"Romans and Gauls" Topic

I have posted some pics of the friezes on the Arch of Orange here
link
I would be interested to hear views on the latin inscriptions on some of the trophy shields as shown at link
Also the unarmoured legionary at link when all the others clearly wear armour
Simon

The shields are really interesting. The French Wikipedia site says:

"Some shields have names: Sacovir, Decurdus and Mario, thought to be those of sculptors or famous armourers(?)."

Discussion on RAT:

link

One Sacrovir led a revolt of the Aedui in 21AD.

"And indeed there is some limited evidence for Roman soldiers placing the name of their commander on their shields. Pseudo-Quintilian's declamation the miles Marianus, which deals with a celebrated incident in 104 B.C., includes a description of the young legionary P. Trebonius, who, it is said, had the name of his commander, C. Marius, emblazoned on his scutum. It is also recorded that in 48 B. C. during the mutiny against Q. Cassius Longinus, the corrupt and unpopular Caesarian governor of Hispania Ulterior, the legio II and a vernacular legion (both formerly Pompeian units), plus some cohorts of the legio V (a legion newly raised by Cassius), placed the name of Pompey the Great on their shields."
but
"the evidence for Roman soldiers displaying the name of their commander on their shields is very limited and further consideration of the evidence gives reason to doubt whether the practice was a common occurrence."
- P Tansey, "M. Titius, Menas and the insignia scutorum" (Klio 90, 2008)

Coincidentally, I was reading Tacitus the other night, and there were several references (in the context of civil wars) to soldiers with the name of an emperor on their shields (which they removed/replaced hastily when fortune turned the other way). It seems reasonable that a general's name might also show up there, although not as essential if not in a Romans vs. Romans situation, in which everybody on either side would have similar kit.

Doug

In the battle against the Cimbri the javelins of Marius' consular colleague's troops could be told from those of Marius' men because their general's name was inscribed upon the pika. Plutarch Life of Gaius Marius.

Thanks all for the above.
Any thoughts on the unarmoured legionary?
He rather puzzles me. If he were some sort of light antisignati I would have expected him to have a smaller shield. Maybe representing legionaries taken by surprise without time to put on their armour at some event the original audience may have recognised?

The unarmoured legionary could be from a hastily raised regiment, or an auxiliary.

It is reminiscent of the rather later unarmoured legionaries on the Mainz pedestals, who also appear to be unarmoured, but one of whom is carrying a scutum.

Perhaps Roman armour was more optional than we think – after all, much of the protection derived from the large shield.

P.s. It looks like the original unarmoured legionary has tied a knot at the back of his tunic, behind the nape of his neck, to make it less baggy. This perhaps suggests that he has prepared for combat.

The knotted tunic was apparently common practice for general wear and fatigues, although I can't see it fitting in with armour.

Perhaps it was common practice for fighting, too, when unarmoured. :-)

My reasoned guess about the inscriptions that are whole, AU and OT, since the arch was likely built in Augustus
reign, are that it would be AUgustus O(c)Tavius, like you guys talked about, the names of the generals on the shields (though it was, of course, the legions of GJC who conquered Gaul. But nothing ever stopped Octavian from taking undue credit). The tendency for a C or P to be dropped or substituted with another T in the less formal Latin can, I think, be seen in the transition from Latin to modern Italian for the same name (Octavius => Ottavio; optime => ottime).

I can't make out all of that other word…looks like "…NDILLUS" but, as with other partial inscriptions, it's hard to tell from a fragment. No famous names come to mind.

If anyone knows for sure, please post it.

I think there is probably something in what you say @BigRedBat about Romans perhaps not always being as uniformly kitted out in full armour as we assume.

I'd forgotten that this is a Gallic shield (duh!)…I was kind of thinking of it as an auxiliary cav shield. So if it's indeed Gallic all bets are off on the inscription, though I don't' know why such a shield would be using Latin, a cultural banner of their enemies.

I like the idea that it might be the sculptors putting their mark on them

My guess is that they are the names of defeated revolting Romans or Celts, as we strongly suspect that Sacrovir refers to the historical figure of the same name, and the shields are apparently trophies.