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Carthaginian Shields
The
evidence for the shields of Carthaginian citizen troops is summarised
in "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars", by Duncan Head.
It
depends on the date of your army. The Sacred Band at Krimisos in 341 BC
are described (in Plutarch's "Life of Timoleon") as wearing iron
cuirasses and bronze helmets, with huge round white leather shields -
probably plain white, with no blazons. Then there is a big gap lacking
in reliable evidence, until the Third Roman-Punic War, when Strabo
describes Carthage manufacturing thureoi - oval, Celtic- or
Roman-style, shields.
Between
these points, Greek-style hoplite-shields do appear in Carthaginian
art, so it is probable that the citizen troops carried these until they
adopted the oval shield - whenever that was. Silius Italicus' epic
Latin poem the Punica describes troops "from Carthage" in Hannibal's
army as barefoot, wearing red, and armed with swords and round leather
shields - he uses "parma", the term used for the shields of Roman
velites and cavalry, and thus probably implying a fairly light shield.
But it is far from clear whether this is a realistic description or,
like many of Silius' details, a fanciful poetic embroidery; and if it
is a realistic description, it is also not clear who is being
described.
Finally,
the Chemtou monument is a Numidian royal construction of the 2nd
century BC probably commemorating victory over the Carthaginians in the
Third Punic War, when Numidia was a Roman ally. This depicts large,
unblazoned, oval shields, and round shields with varied blazons in
Greek style, including an eye, Herakles' club, Zeus' thunderbolt, and
Athene's aigis. It is possible that one or both of these shield-styles
copies Carthaginian equipment taken as trophies in this final war; but
then again, they may be Hellenising artistic convention.
For
Carthaginian citizen troops of the first and second Roman-Punic wars, I
would be inclined to use hoplite shields, painted white, with
individual blazons mixing Greek emblems and motifs taken from
Carthaginian art such as horses, palm-trees, the "Hand of Baal" and the
"Sign of Tanit". But that is largely guesswork.
Roman Republican Shields
In
answer to George Gouveia's query, there seems to be no very definite
evidence on mid-Republican Roman use of shield-colours, or indeed on
what shield-blazons, if any, they used. While individual soldiers were
originally obliged to supply their own equipment, this system was no
longer adequate for the huge armies of the Punic Wars, so more
uniformity may have resulted from state-organised supply. Nick Sekunda,
in the useful Osprey "Roman Republican Army", illustrates a sculpted
shield from Spain which - may - represent a Roman type of the Second
Punic War, with a wolf-mask on the boss. But the shields on the
Aemilius Paullus monument, relating to 168 BC, have no blazons
sculpted: blazons could have been painted on, but their absence (in
contrast to the relief decoration of the Macedonian shields on the same
monument) may indicate that the original shields were plain.
There
is one hint that different legions were already distinguishable: in the
lead-up to the battle of the Metaurus, Hasdrubal recognised that new
Roman troops had arrived because of the different shields. This could
just mean that they were old, worn shields, or a slightly different
shape (legions raised in different years getting their shields produced
by different contractors?) rather than coloured differently, but
distinctive colours for different legions are certainly a possibility.
So,
what colours? White is a popular ancient shield colour generally,
possibly indicating that it was cheap and simple to bleach, or
whitewash, or rub chalk into, a leather shield-face. It's the obvious
first choice. And you can hardly have Romans without red shields
somewhere. Otherwise, your guess is probably as good as mine. |
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