Pertinax Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Let it never be said that my great age and exalted position prevent me from bearing arms for Rome. To resolve the debate regarding the scutum, I manfully bore the "customary arms" and appraised the grip, weight and portability of same.The Scutum forces the hand to be held in a "punching" position, wth its central horizontal bar, the hand cannot grip palm upwards in any way.The LEG II AUG soldiery insisted that the scutum is not for fluid , individual ,combat but an essential for group co-operative protection. The shield is not overly heavy , though I suspect made for persons shorter than myself (im over 6ft tall), leverage on the forearm of a tall man would be irritating.You feel quite well covered given its size and curvature. The left hand retains the same grip with movement through flexure of the wrist, and extension of the forearm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost_Warrior Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Why can't you grip it palm facing up? Hands too big? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Why can't you grip it palm facing up? Hands too big? It twists the hand open and pulls the shield out of line, the loading on the wrist is far greater than grasping from above with a fist. I could not really manipulate the shield at all with a palm up grip, its not a natural "resting" grip.With the fist grip you feel nice and snug behind your own little defensive perimeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost_Warrior Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Just thinking about the "fist grip" makes me get tired lol. But then, I've never trained with a scutum. I was under the empression that...scutums (scuta?)...had a recessed or "cut out" area behind the little bar thingy, where the boss stuck out several inches, which would allow for several different grips. (I really am more intelligient than that last sentence makes me seem. Honest. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Just thinking about the "fist grip" makes me get tired lol. But then, I've never trained with a scutum. I was under the empression that...scutums (scuta?)...had a recessed or "cut out" area behind the little bar thingy, where the boss stuck out several inches, which would allow for several different grips. (I really am more intelligient than that last sentence makes me seem. Honest. ) You are quite correct but the hollow in the boss is not large, its quite sufficient to grip the bar and strike with the boss but there is no room to do anything fancy! I will find a photo to illustrate . http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=909 and here it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted July 9, 2006 Report Share Posted July 9, 2006 A further note after chatting with a Centurion of LEG II AUG , the shields seen here are the curved ones usually associated with the later part of the second C AD . With this shape, the central bar ,held by a fist grip is very easy to carry "at the slope" .In contact when "punching" with the boss ,the soldier tends to strike and crouch lower, thence stabbing with the gladius almost simultaneously. The "crouch" is not a problem as it gets a great deal of the man behind the scutum. A flatter shield is much more difficult to use with this type of grip, I ve previously shown auxilliae with horizontal grip shields, the Centurion strongly favours use of a horizontal bar when deploying flat or lightly curved scutii.The debate about use of straps rages amongst re-enactors , images from Trajans column suggest they are a possibility but (by their nature) we have no survivals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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