Iconography of the Roman legionaries’ shields of the last third of the 2nd century AD: On the material of the reliefs of the Marcus Aurelius Column
https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-6541-2024-6-3-45-61
Abstract
The article considers the reliefs with the Roman legionnaires’ images on the Column of Marcus Aurelius as a source on the Roman weaponry and military tactics of the last third of the 2nd century AD. Traditionally in historiography, those images are not considered sufficiently representative due to the large number of the borrowings from other monuments of the Roman triumphal art. By analyzing the images of various legionary shields on the Marcus Aurelius Column and comparing them with other monuments of the Roman art of the last third of the 2nd – early 3d centuries AD, there were similarities found between them in representing the elements of the Roman military equipment. The Column images prove the use by the legionnaires of at least four types of shields with various shapes. It is also assumed that Roman soldiers could have used the shields of different shapes and types even within the same formation or the formation without any reference to a particular line of formation construction. In general, the reliefs of the column make it possible to challenge the conventional wisdom of the uniform armament of the Roman legions during the period of the Principate. Thus, the reliefs of the Column of Marcus Aurelius can be considered a valuable source on the military affairs of the early Empire era
Keywords
About the Author
E. A. Bazhenov
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Egor A. Bazhenov
6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
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Review
For citations:
Bazhenov E.A. Iconography of the Roman legionaries’ shields of the last third of the 2nd century AD: On the material of the reliefs of the Marcus Aurelius Column. History and Archives. 2024;6(3):45-61. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-6541-2024-6-3-45-61
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