Belt Construction

[Gregory J. Liebau]

Hello, sirs and ma'ams!

Now, I'm interested in what the most popular way to reconstruct a gladiator belt is. I'm doing reconstructions dating to the later first century A.D. I'm in favor of putting two pieces of rather strong leather back to back, and padding the middle with linen, rather like late Roman war belts. I'd then overlap one layer of the leather and stitch it closed at the top, bottom and sides.

I was thinking that a double buckle would be good, as I want to use wider belts for my first three impressions, which will be Murmillo, Hoplomachus and Thracian. The width of the belts will vary and I'll use different designs based on contemporary art on each.

So, which construction method seems more likely than others? Would the one I chose be okay? Is there any evidence for or against this, during the first century?

Cheers, and thank you!

-Gregory-

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

Dilemma is that buckles/studs/decoration/hangers made of non organic material i.e. bronze and iron (in the right conditions) survive with little indication of exact arrangement on the belt... or indeed little proof that they were gladiator belt fittings.

Because many amphitheatres are associatied with the Roman army and larger settlements... when buckles etc are unearthed archaeologists cannot say 100% that said fittings are gladiatorial - and so they are often labelled as 'army material'.
Quite feasible as the same contractors that supplied the army probably had the job of supplying gladiator schools as well (ok.. it's guesswork).

Sadly most organic material is long gone, and as these belts were probably mainly leather... with a few possible exceptions in felt (guesswork again) then other reference such as the bone carving of the Lexden Murmillo (with a very rich looking belt) or mosaics such as the Villa Borghese floor may prove useful.

Off at a tangent..... These later belts may have been a progression/evolution of the wide 'Samnite' belts worn by the captured prisoners of war in the days of the early Republic (in fact probably worn by most tribes in Italy at this time).

Now the Guttman collection has some fine examples of these (as they are totally copper alloy). Some are as wide as 5 inches and may have been lined with leather and or felt.

I think showmanship and extravagance (within reason) is the way to go.
As long as one sticks to fittings/buckles that are relevant to the period one has chosen (known army fittings/buckles or not).
Also- If you're going to dye the leather... use natural vegetable dyes, not ghastly chemical ones.

Until they find a whole belt in a tomb under a relief of a gladiator then guesswork - using a helping of common sense and known archaeological data (backed up with a bit of visual evidence- mosaic, relief or small find) is probably the way to go.

Unless of course anyone has any other data on it... I'd certainly love to see it.

[john m roberts]

1st-2nd century mosaics that show the color of the gladiator belt uniformly show the same yellow used to represent the bronze of the helmets. I am sure that they were solid bronze, a survival of the old Samnite belt. After all, the earliest gladiators in Rome were called "Samnites." Later developments, especially in the Greek East, definitely show leather belts wrapped many times around the waist, rather like the harness worn by charioteers, often with ring-buckles. Terry Nix sells a very fine Samnite belt with a hippogriff relief. Problem is, to get it you have to buy a triple-disc cuirass as well. It's an ensemble. I am sorely tempted to buy the whole rig just to get the belt.

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

John said- 'Terry Nix sells a very fine Samnite belt with a hippogriff relief'

Wow, even as part of the Samnite/Campanain tri-lobate harness... that's got to be worth the investment.

Forgive my sheer cheek... do you have Terry Nix's details?

Also- yep quite right there are very definite 'yellowy' metalic representations 1st & 2nd C AD... and I'm relieved that you feel that it's certainly feasible that they are a survival of the Samnite military belt too.

I'd love to see the Eastern representations of multi wrapped belts, especially if they are akin to the charioteer (these body wrappings vary enormously.. I recall one at Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily showing a charioteer apparently 'body wrapped' in four reins as he receives his victory palm) - This would indeed add variety.

[/quote]

[Gregory J. Liebau]

Hey guys,

That Samnite setup is made by Deepeeka that's sold at Nix. It's a pretty nice piece, but is supposedly much too large in comparison to the real pieces. Thanks for the information about the belts, too! I'm in a rush, so this's a little short! My apologies!

Cheers!

-Gregory-

[john m roberts]

The triple-disc is a little large going by the artwork of the time, which shows the breastplate covering only the pectoral and sternum area. This one comes well down on the abdomen, but it still doesn't cover the whole torso, so I think it's within historical parameters. The belt fits me perfectly. Gaius Aquilus has a set and I've tried it on. The whole rig is leather-lined, to boot.

[Gashford]

Hi there guys

As a bit of an aside, it is also worth mentioning that the colour blue was often used in ancient art to depict bronze. Just one of those artistic convention things, much like folk lying down in the Bayeux tapestry are considered dead etc ...

An example of this, IIRC, would be the colour of the aquila on the reconstruction of the painted cuirass worn by one of the Emperors (Augustas??) where the statue was tested for paint pigments. The aquila and a couple of other bronze items had been painted blue.

Feel free to tear into this info, its second hand to me, but from a fairly reliable source ... www.masterarmourer.com

Take care all

Graham

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

Interesting you should say that Graham... A decorated colour glass fragment from Vindolanda showing gladiators (Fragment 5454), now in the Chesterholm museum - shows a combination of what we believe is fabric & metal limb armour, the shoulder area of what must be manica and the face area of the secutor helmet are both indeed represented as bright blue.

But the belt appears to be a brown or coffee colour and the greave is also shown in the same coffee colour (over what looks like a padded leg binding/gaiter).
Leather? Bronze? Or the artist having a bad day? ...Who knows?

Blue is an interesting choice, unless it has decayed as a pigment (unlikely considering the different medium it is obviously represented on) or perhaps it represents silvering/tinning over bronze?

Anyone got any theories on this?

The much later Gododdin (6th Cent AD) refers to 'Dark Blue' armour too.
Some dismiss this as poetic rambling, some say it was the 'blue-ing process' of iron used by armourers, or the reflection of sky off of silvered/tinned armour.

But this last bit may be a red-herring (ha ha)

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

P.S. So does anyone have Terry Nix's website details?

[Arthes]

P.S. So does anyone have Terry Nix's website details?

http://www.niximperial.com/

The much later Gododdin (6th Cent AD) refers to 'Dark Blue' armour too.
Some dismiss this as poetic rambling, some say it was the 'blue-ing process' of iron used by armourers, or the reflection of sky off of silvered/tinned armour.

I always thought it meant the 'icy' blue/grey colour of the hamata...
Perdur is also described as having a steel blade and emphasis is made on steel blades in other poetry such as the description of Arthur's men in Elergy for Geraint....steel is generally described as 'blue' ie steely blue.

regards
Arthes

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

Cheers for the link.

Dark blue re - Hamata, could be... guess we'll never know.

Unless they ever find a second part to Aneirin's classic (with notes)

'Y Gododdin II- The Return of the Votadini'

Now I'm getting silly aren't I!

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

:roll:

[Robert Vermaat]

These are both from your website:

[DAN OF BRITANNIA]

Well I'll sort my avatar out later.
Ok... I am a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to internet technology... all I did was a link to a picture on the Britannia site but have no way of knowing how to shrink the bugger.

I'll speak to our website chappie - I design for print (Gimmie CMYK 300dpi Tifs anyday)... web design/technology is scary stuff, have pity on me!!!!

I love the way this thread, via a ramble - led me into an area I'd never considered (artistic rendering of a material in a specific colour and how ancient perceptions, through cultural conditioning may have differed... i.e. the way we view red as danger and pink as effeminate wouldn't mean the same to another time/culture)... shows what a vaulable resource this site is I guess.

[john m roberts]

I just got the book "Gladiators" by Fik Meijer, which I'll review elsewhere. The reason I mention it here is it reproduces a probably gladiatorial pair from a tomb painting found at the necropolis at Paestum, dating from the early 4th century BC. One figure wears a triple disk breastplate that reaches from his shoulders to the lower abdomen, about the same proportions as the Deepeeka replica, so maybe it's not oversized after all. It's hard to tell if the man is wearing the belt.