Creating a Roman Century circa 150AD - how?

[Justindo]

During a, er, toilet break I had some time to think about what I said above and suspect I may have got it wrong for "option 1".

The squires may have stood back holding the horses' reins while the riders dismounted to fight.  Or gosh maybe I'm confusing this with one variant of British chariotry.  Somebody somewhere dismounted from chariots to fight while the drivers waited in the rear to provide the warriors a quick getaway.  I hope I'm not thinking of the Iliad...

-Tim

Option 1 as you wrote it previously sounds very plausible.

The British Celts got off their chariots to fight and then when tired or in trouble, their driver would come back to pick them up.

[Justindo]

I'm no Roman expert, but I wonder if this mix of cavalry and infantry might be similar to the mounted infantry which were found in the British army in the late 19th century, mainly I think in the colonies, e.g. South Africa.  They were mounted for travelling purposes but actually fought on foot.  Just a thought and probably (almost certainly) entirely wrong.

An interesting thought, but I don't think the horse portion of the equitata acted as mounted infantry.  Rather the horse and foot would perform different roles, as Tim illustrated above.

[playmofire]

An interesting thought, but I don't think the horse portion of the equitata acted as mounted infantry.  Rather the horse and foot would perform different roles, as Tim illustrated above.

As I said, just a thought and almost certainly wrong!

[Martin Milner]

Thanks for all the tips and interest guys, I don't think I'd find the time and energy to get organised without knowing someone's following progress. It's tough trying to juggle my interests in Roman, Pirates, Medieval and Modern with only one 3'x5' table to work on. For now I'll stick with the Romans, sorry Gus, tales of Oswestry Castle will have to wait, so it's up to you to keep us entertained with Fletcher, Elmo, and all the Pirates!


Here's a fresh overview,with all non-Roman stuff off the display table. To form a backdrop I've assembled some castle pieces into a city wall, though I have a bigger stash somewhere, if only I can put my hands on it. Meantime this will have to do. Three under-strength centuries are assembled on parade, two infantry units and the Praetorians.



The Legate (purple robes) is entertaining family and friends, before inspecting the troops. Maybe he shouldn't be all purple unless he's the Emperor, but there you go. His son (gold laurels, no beard) stands waiting, he'll soon become a tribune but not just yet. The Legate's bodyguard (brown beard, orange cloak) watches respectfully. Six tribunes stand watching; we'll return to them at the end.



The Praetorian Century, with cavalry passing behind. The standard bearer is dipping his standard for the camera only. I must've knocked the table, because two tribunes are lying down on parade, not what they should be doing at all.



1st Century. Not much more I can say about that for now. I've borrowed Tim's idea of the wolf-head for the Cornicern.



Road repair crew, two legionnaires supervised by a spare Tribune.



2nd Century. A Centurion arrives in a chariot with messages. Two officers discuss the loading of siege machinery onto a 2-horse waggon.



One cart carrying a catapault is delayed by the roadworks, much to the annoyance of an off-duty officer.



So back to the Tribunes. With the white crest and black cloak is the Tribunus Laticlavius (broad stripe tribune), the youngest of the bunch, but due for a career in the Senate. He's the senior Tribue due to his class, not his experience. To his left is a shady character who clearly resents his younger colleague's seniority. I'd watch him. The remaining Tribuni Angusticlavii include one greybeard who has much wisdom and isn't fooled by the man on his left for a moment.

In the background the Siege Engineer Decurion in the sunglasses (ahem) discusses the loading of three more carts with a Centurion who awaits the arrival of his command.

[mike1003]

allready lookin impressive.. cant wait to see more pics..

[playmofire]

Nice set of photos, Martin, and a good, informative commentary.  I thought at first that the Legate was going to make an oblation to the gods for a successful campaign by pouring the wine in the goblet on the ground.

Though they're not in my collecting range, I must say that the Romans are very impressive and attractive. If I had the time and the space, I suspect that they would be on my to buy list.

Look forward to more. 

[Timotheos]

Hi Martin

Nice setup!

If you want to be a stickler, probably oxen (or ahem cows) would be pulling the heavy wagons.

The problem is twofold:

1) Ancient yokes and harnesses were designed to fit the ox.  The harness around the neck doesn't choke an ox due to his neck being more horizontal.  When the ancients hooked a horse to this configuration, the harness pressed against the horse's throat.  This is one reason why chariots had to be so flimsy and light.  Horses couldn't haul heavy loads without the choke effect drasticly reducing their pulling power.

2) Ancient horses weren't the power houses bred in Europe during the middle ages but instead were closer in size to ponies.  Mules could keep pace with horses on a trotting march, but horses could gallop faster which is why they were so well suited for chariotry and cavalry.  I've read anecdotes about a tall cavalryman's feet almost touching the ground from horseback.

Why it took until the middle ages for somebody to invent an efficient horse yoke is beyond me.  Probably because oxen were just so useful for load hauling that nobody saw a use for putting much thought into the horse yoke.  Though, considering the problem that chariots faced, you'd think somebody would have figured it out.  Incidently, the harness that comes with the Roman chariot isn't historically accurate.  For five horse chariots, the Hittites fashioned a huge yoke of bent wood across all four necks.*  The yoke had to be as light as possible, because it's weight also would reduce the horse's efficiency.

* Note: with a five horse chariot, the fifth horse was tethered by a separate leash.  With his lighter load, he acted as pacemaker for the other four, which, choking on their yoke, would have been inclined to go slower.  The fifth horse also served as an arrow screen...  Nova or the history channel did an excellent documentary in which some British researchers went to Turkey and built a chariot.  It was flimsy and under a lot of stress the wheel axle would snap off. 

   

[Martin Milner]

Hi Martin

Nice setup!

If you want to be a stickler, probably oxen (or ahem cows) would be pulling the heavy wagons.

Longhorn or shorthorn?



I've got several of both and could swap them in, if I can get more collars to fit, as these two did easily. Unfortunately recent sets have had combined collar/saddle pieces, which don't fit the oxen.

Are spoked wheels OK on Roman carts?

For my Auxiliary Century, I'm assuming oval shields, not rectangular, would look better, but Roman helmets, not the pot helmets, right? I'll probably buy the figures from DS but order replacement helmets as spares, so I'll have the choice of either.

[Justindo]

Martin, your Roman diorama looks great!  I really like the narration and I can't wait to see what happens.

Tim is correct about using oxen for the wagons, but I'm using horses for all my carts and wagons, simply because Playmobil has designed them that way and I'm too lazy to change them!  If I were you, I'd use the shorthorn oxen.  Also, Roman carts and wagons would have had spoked wheels.

You're correct in that the auxiliary units should have the oval shields and Roman-style helmets.

[Timotheos]

I don't have any ox harnesses and had to use string to harness my oxen.   

Spoked wheels have been around since Assyrian chariots and were a necessity to keep the weight down.  It's hard to believe but those early wheel rims were made from a single piece of bent wood.  That process lives on in Turkey, based on the chariot documentary I saw.  The craftsmen take a certain type of wood, heat-treat it, then literally bend it to the shape they want.  Sometimes it breaks in process.  The four horse yoke they made for the documentary took two goes.

As for the "bowl helmets" (aka spangen helms) those are roughly suitable for Republic-era legionnairres.  The hastati, principes, and triarii wore a domed helmet, but with cheek pieces and a feather or plume.

BTW, I saw a NOVA documentary in which a pair of trebuchets were re-created.  Those tiny wheels Playmobil puts on the catapults served a double purpose--for a rigid-arm trebuchet, the wheels convert the trebuchet's forward motion into mechanical advantage (giving the projectile extra forward velocity) while also dampening the trebs violent pendulating.

Now, granted, Roman onager's were called onagers due to their violent kick.  So I'm guessing the wheels on the Roman catapult aren't accurate.  But they would have been a mechanical enhancement.  The catapult's kick is wasted energy. 
-Tim