12-20-2010, 09:53 PM
Hello Kai
There is a strong sense of military identity in the third century. Soldiers from a humble infantryman serving in a numerus to the emperor himself appear to wear similar style clothes, tight fitting sleeved tunics in Germanic fashion decorated with motifs showing a strong eastern influence, trousers and sagum cloak and have short hairstyles and beards.
The Persian reliefs showing captured Roman emperors also show these fashions and the swords and baldrics you mention.
For more information read Simon James "Excavations at Dura Europos 1928-1937 Final Report VII;the Arms and Armour and other Military Equipment'. British Museum.
And his article on military identity "The Community of the Soldiers" in TRAC 98, Oxford, pages 14-25.
As far as I know Senatorial officers appeared less and less in the third century being replaced by more career minded professional soldiers but I could be wrong.
Hope this helps a bit.
Graham.
There is a strong sense of military identity in the third century. Soldiers from a humble infantryman serving in a numerus to the emperor himself appear to wear similar style clothes, tight fitting sleeved tunics in Germanic fashion decorated with motifs showing a strong eastern influence, trousers and sagum cloak and have short hairstyles and beards.
The Persian reliefs showing captured Roman emperors also show these fashions and the swords and baldrics you mention.
For more information read Simon James "Excavations at Dura Europos 1928-1937 Final Report VII;the Arms and Armour and other Military Equipment'. British Museum.
And his article on military identity "The Community of the Soldiers" in TRAC 98, Oxford, pages 14-25.
As far as I know Senatorial officers appeared less and less in the third century being replaced by more career minded professional soldiers but I could be wrong.
Hope this helps a bit.
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
