Scissor Questions

[Titus Manlius Verus]

Very good. There's not much written about the scissor. However, the reference that you found about the finds in Italy rebuke Phillip Matyzak's claim in his book that the Scissor (Anabate) was found only in the east (namely Ephesus).If scissors were in both the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire, I think it could be relatively safe to categorize the scissor as part of the "regular" types of gladiator. I found a couple of depictions of Scissor tombstones, and have come to at least a basic understanding about this gladiator. It appears that Scissors wore lorica squamata OR hamata that was short-sleeved to the elbows, and that fell to just above the knee. I believe that squamata (as well as the secutor helm) confirms my belief that the scissor fought the retiarius. I have a hard time seeing scissors fighting each other, as they most likely would have been housed with the secutors, and no one in that ludus would fight each other. That's an explosive situation that no lanista would want.


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Speaking of armor,how affective would an unshielded gladiator fair against a retiarius? it seems to me, that a retiarius, possessing a trident as long as himself, would have an extraordinary advantage over a fully-armored, gladiator wearing nearly 70 pounds (31.7kg) of gear. As far as I know, there are no scissor impersonators in the United States, and I have only heard of one in Europe. I would greatly like to figure out how such a duel would be fought, and just how well lorica squamata would hold up against a trident.


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