![]() ![]() It combines textual accounts of centurions from such authors as Caesar, Tacitus, and Cassius Dio, as well as epigraphic and archaeological evidence for centurions themselves, including funerary monuments, dedicatory inscriptions, and the physical remains of legionary camps. This dissertation examines the military and social roles of centurions in the Roman legions during the Republic and Principate. The continued use of strict typology by these recent authors points to the fact that they still have not decided to challenge the traditional ideas about equipment uniformity. As of yet they have not fully explored the repercussions on equipment uniformity that their local production models suggest. Bishop and Jon Coulston, have disagreed with the centralized production models set forth by Webster et al, and have put forth their own models of localized production. More recent scholars of Roman equipment, such as Simon James, M.C. Peter Connolly, who followed after Webster and will also be discussed in more depth in the next chapter, insisted upon the same equipment homogeny. In order to account for this uniformity Webster went on to say that there must have been large scale production centres at the heart of the Roman Empire. In his 1969 book The Roman Imperial army of the first and second centuries A.D., he wrote ͞he equipment issued to legionaries was remarkably uniform throughout the Empire…͟ (Webster, 1969: 122). Graham Webster, who will be discussed in more detail in the following chapter, was one of the fathers of Roman equipment studies. This tendency is, in fact, the traditional or received view of Roman military equipment. Scholars and students of Roman history are just as likely to portray Roman military equipment in the same uniform, homogeneous manner. The tendency to see Roman military equipment and the Roman army in general as extremely uniform, however, is not limited to Hollywood. It is a great example of the popular understanding of how uniform the equipment of the Roman army was and how it prosecuted battles. ![]() This first scene is designed to show the Roman ͚military machine͛ in all its grandeur. One of the opening scenes is of the Roman battle lines: row upon row of legionaries who are armed and equipped identically, like little toy soldiers they wear the same lorica segmentata armour, carry the same curved scutum, and wield exactly the same weapons. In it the main character, Maximus, is a general in the armies of Marcus Aurelius, fighting against the Germans. ![]() This can be seen quite clearly in the 2000 movie Gladiator. That is to say that it is often presented as a uniform entity: unmatched in regulation and order, and supplied with identical pieces of equipment. The popular image of the Roman military is one in which it is cast as an ordered, and in many ways ͚ modern,͛ organization. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |