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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forget 'Gladiator'!,
By K. Murphy "Fortune favors the Bold" (The thriving metropolis of Masury, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Roman Legions Recreated in Colour Photographs (Paperback)
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I bought this one; the main reason why I did is all the positive reviews it has already attracted. Now, her I am after having got it yesterday, and I agree with the previous reviewers completely! This is a ninety-something page collection of quality pictures of all the best Roman Army reenactors across Europe, such as the famous Ermine Street Guard of the UK and several in Germany (Germania?)
Among the pictures are lots of good shots of the equipment of the legionaries, particularly their helmets, swords, and daggers. Naturally the book focuses mostly on the Army between Vespasian and Marcus Aurelius (AD 69-180), and its statement that the military equipment of the 3rd Century Army is 'virtually unknown' is a gross exaggeration. There are a couple pictures of 4th Century infantry and cavalry, though not enough to appease a Late Empire enthusiast (or snotty perfectionist?) such as myself. Overall, expect to see a lot of the classical 1st Century legionaries with Gallic helmets, red tunics, and loricas. That is my only complaint against this book, and it was not enough to justify giving it 4 stars instead of 5. A feature of this book I particularly appreciated was how so many of the pictures are of fair-skinned blond Europeans, which, since most of these reenactment groups focus on Northern European Legions, would have made up the overwhelming majority of the legionaries in those provinces. All the men in the pictures look very professional; they have the look of men who are actually used to wearing and marching in chainmail and carrying shields nearly as big as themselves. You won't find any unprofessional goof-ups here like a whole 'cohort' of reenactors marching by with their shields on their right sides. These guys have, so much as anyone alive today can, lived the Roman Army, and probably know much more about it than you reading this or me writing it. Like I said above, this book focuses largely on the lorica-clad legionaries of Flavian Britain and Germany, but it does include a hearty selection of other troop types; among them are early period hoplites, velites, hastatii, and triarii, legionary and auxiliary cavalry, auxiliary spearmen and archers, and standard bearers of the three major types (signifiers, aquilifiers, and imagnifiers). Each section also has a few paragraphs of text to profile the roles of the particular type of soldier discussed on that page, and lots of little details on the pictures themselves. Overall, if you want a good image of what the Roman Army would have looked like in life, forget the movies and buy this book.
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