POST-MARIAN ROMANS?!

[Pontius Pilate]

Hi!!
I'm new to the forums. Just one quick question: why does the cohorts reformata have a tassel/plume coming out of the top of the helmet? I thought that the plume was just used for ceremonial events like a triumph? I didn't know they really wore it into battle. Correct me if I'm wrong. By the way, EB is a great game. I hope someone responds and my first thread doesn't get closed!!

[Aemilius Paulus]

The Roman soldiers usually wore their plumes in battle. Just find a book in your local library, if you have one near you, about the Roman military and it will tell you the same thing. Or look it up on the Internet, especially at a site such as http://www.roman-empire.net/. The plumes were used for identification. Each cohort would have a different colored plume, or so some historians speculate. It would also tell your soldiers from the enemy, if that was ever a problem.

[SwissBarbar]

T.....especially at a site such as http://www.roman-empire.net/.... .

that's a great site !!!! thx

[Pontius Pilate]

The Roman soldiers usually wore their plumes in battle. Just find a book in your local library, if you have one near you, about the Roman military and it will tell you the same thing. Or look it up on the Internet, especially at a site such as http://www.roman-empire.net/. The plumes were used for identification. Each cohort would have a different colored plume, or so some historians speculate. It would also tell your soldiers from the enemy, if that was ever a problem.

Thank you for the website and your insight. But how come sometimes the legionaries are depicted with a small spike or loop on top of the montefortino helmet? Is this due to historians disagreeing? Also, another question, how uniform were the post marian legions in real life? Did legions stationed in the Mid-east look exactly like those stationed in Gaul? I'm guessing there must have been some differences in appearance?

[Aemilius Paulus]

The spike/loop was probably for the plume itself. The eastern legions did look different, but you would have to research that yourself. That is a rather esoteric question. I do know that the eastern legionaries of the Imperial Period wore cheires/manica (check the arm armour of the retiarius gladiator to give you an idea). Also, lorica squamata was used largely by the Eastern troops.

[desert]

According to my top source in such things, EB, Imperial Roman garrisons in Dacia used to have specialized armor that was designed to help defend against falxes.

[gamegeek2]

Yeah, Eastern troops mainly developed that armour out of necessity to fight falxes. I'm sure there's a lot of Hellenic influence there, too; the later Eastern Roman Empire was every bit as Greek as Roman, and maybe more.