Roman shield

[john m roberts]

Something the movies always leave out is the referees. There was always one and sometimes two for each pair of combatants, carrying staves with which to signal and to separate the fighters when necessary. They were there to see that all the rules were observed, and there seem to have been a great many rules. Granted, we know very little about the fighting styles and rules of combat during the Republic. The few depictions surviving from that era show gladiators wearing oddments of armor and helmets of varying styles, but there are not enough of these to determine whether there was any system to their equipping or pairing, so I guess producers have some licence when filming fights from that period. But, yes, there is very little you could do to make weapons and armor of that period somehow superior. As to a sharpened shield rim, besides being dangerous to the wielder, if you have a shot at your enemy's neck, why not just break it with the conventional rim (as described by Robert Graves in "I, Claudius")? He'd be just as dead as if you'd beheaded him.