Roman Cavalary standard.

[Ca Putt]

From various sources I've heard that the Draco (you know this Cloth Pipe with a metal Dragon head at the front) was "invented by the romans after a visit to egypt where there were amazed by Crocodiles. now many "barbarian" cavalary units have this standard aswell in EB, obviously preceeving the roman Expansion in Egypt this lets to conclude that the theory about the Crocodiles is incorrect and the romans copied this banner from "the Barbarians".

So who's right and if the Crocodile stuff is right, why do some cavalary units have "the draco"(I don'T doubt that they had i'm merely interested in the way they come up with it.

[Ravenic]

I am 90% sure that the Romans adopted the Draco from Barbarians (in the shirtless with trousers and long hair sense).

Infact, I believe it originally came from the Sarmatians, or Scythians, or some steppe people.

[Ludens]

Infact, I believe it originally came from the Sarmatians, or Scythians, or some steppe people.

I think that Goldsworthy mentioned they copied it from the steppe people, but I haven't got his book with me so I can't give you the reference. What sources did the crocodile theory come from?

[Watchman]

I read somewhere the steppe peoples originally used it as a windsock so their archers had an easier time estimating how much they had to correct for winds...

Anyway, AFAIK the Romans didn't adopt it until a fair while after the EB period.

[Ca Putt]

thank you for the replies, that fits best with my common sence too :D.

btw just some TV-documentaries.

[Macilrille]

Never- ever trust anything you see in a socalled TV-Documentary.

Trust about half of what you read in books, if several sources says the same (as a simple rule of thumb, real source criticism is something more ;-) ).

True knowledge is (still) to be found in book, not on TV or online. Eventually the net will have some more profound knowledge on it. There are a few spots of it already, stars shining bright in an utter darkness, but generally. Books is the place to look.