Roman Shields - what colour and decorations did they really have ? (1 Viewer)

[tryfon]

Hi all, I am a big fan and collector of the ancient era. Have collected Romans for many years and have had many painted for me in Russia.
The question I have is that a number of companies, make Roman shield Green, Black etc, I have extensively researched and cannot find any reference to such shields,

So, as a collector I would like what was actually present in history not something that is unsubstantiated etc, traditional ones we have been taught and see in films, books etc were used extensively by the Romans, and some fancy ones recovered at archaeological sites.

Any one out there that can confirm these shields we are seeing on Roman figures actually existed.


all the best

 

[Mirof]

Have a look here
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332914597444539921/visual-search/?x=16&y=16&w=530&h=671

 

[tryfon]

Have a look here
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332914597444539921/visual-search/?x=16&y=16&w=530&h=671

Thanks come across these pictures before, but when searching actual history and shields found , never seen these other they talk about only the standard ones we see, anyhow thanks for the info

 

[Currahee Chris]

Good Question- one that has perplexed me as well.

In all my years of reading and re-enacting and interest in Rome, I haven't really come across anything out of the usual Thunderbolt pattern- which, as you can probably agree, seems to be on the outs as companies are churning out figures with all sorts of designs. Which prompted me to do a little additional research into the topic. I posed the question on RAT a month or so ago and it seems there isn't anything definitive but it seems, as I had suspected, that variations on the Thunderbolts were possible, just probably not en masse.

https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/showthread.php?tid=30921

I think we look at it through the lense of being collectors in the modern age and I know myself, I have a tendency to think of the Legions as very uniform and therefore if one had them, they all did- sort of like unit patches in todays army.

I have simply decided to steer clear of the non-thunderbolt shields as my Roman collection focuses on the campaigns in Germania during the First Century AD.

 

[Peiper007]

There is evidence from tablets and frescos of different scenes where there are shields with different designs on them and with any army unit there have always been insignia to differentiate the different units.

I travel up to Hadrian's wall every year for a few days, great walking and historical area and I live less than an hours drive from Caerleon in Wales, which I also visit regularly. I was talking to members of staff at Vindolanda and asked a few questions, my interest is Roman military history and Hadrian's wall, one of the questions was on colours, uniforms, shields, buildings etc. Their answer was they have found a lot of personal effects, including over 5,000 shoes on that one site, there is always fragments on the items and the pigment colur in these pieces can be analysed to ascertain what the colours were, plus there are tablets found which refer to colours etc. As for the insignia on the shields there are things written and/or described on tablets etc they have found which point to design and colour.

Many of the significant finds at site like Vindolanda are always on regional or even national TV in the UK, there is always more often than not something on the BBC website about finds at Roman sites, look below for some finds, the dog was remains of both bone and fur.
Bronze hand find - http://www.vindolanda.com/_blog/press-releases/post/bronze-hand-discovery/
Roman Boxing Gloves - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/19/rare-roman-boxing-gloves-found-hadrians-wall
Vindolanda dog remains find - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-46126499

There are a lot of websites with shield pictures but a book I can recommend is Dando-Collins. S. Legions of Roman

But no one can give a definitive yes or no on colours, but I feel the different colours were more likely for recognition.

 

[theBaron]

Roman Army Talk is a good group to visit. I belong to the Facebook group. It reminds me of the Seven Years War group in Kronoskaf, in that there are a lot of members from Europe, who have better access to original material, and to scholarly research on the subject, than we do here. I second Chris' suggestion about having a look there.

Prost!
Brad

 

[bradleyl30]

Roman Army Talk is a good group to visit. I belong to the Facebook group. It reminds me of the Seven Years War group in Kronoskaf, in that there are a lot of members from Europe, who have better access to original material, and to scholarly research on the subject, than we do here. I second Chris' suggestion about having a look there.

Prost!
Brad

I third Chris’ Suggestion

 

[katana]

The only intact Roman Scutum was excavated at Dura Europus in well preserved condition. The color was red with gold decoration applied to the front. A picture of this shield appears on page 50 of The Roman Army by Peter Connolly. The construction is detailed and scaled at 1/10. The shape of the shield is more rectangular than the shape usually seen on toy soldiers. The correct size at 1/30 scale would be 25mm wide X 40mm tall and a depth of curvature of about 4mm.

 

[johnnybach]

The only intact Roman Scutum was excavated at Dura Europus in well preserved condition. The color was red with gold decoration applied to the front. A picture of this shield appears on page 50 of The Roman Army by Peter Connolly. The construction is detailed and scaled at 1/10. The shape of the shield is more rectangular than the shape usually seen on toy soldiers. The correct size at 1/30 scale would be 25mm wide X 40mm tall and a depth of curvature of about 4mm.

There's a picture of it here: jb


https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/5959