r/ancientrome • u/tyw7 • 2d ago

Shield design

Could a soldier tell what legion another soldier belonged to based on their shield?

I am writing a story about someone from the Twelfth Legion and wonder if another legion can recognize them based on the shield.

Would the shield have the legion number on it?

Also what customization could a soldier do with his shield?

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3

u/Percennius 1d ago

Probably. Per Tacitus, in the second battle of bedriacum, two Flavian soldiers used vitellian shields as a disguise to get close to and destroy a Vitellian ballista. So at least during a civil war, effort was put into distinguishing each other lol

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u/tyw7 1d ago

What symbol would the Twelfth even use? A lot of shields on the internet have the lightning bolt. 

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u/Percennius 1d ago

Weren’t they the ones attested in the Rain Miracle during the Marcomannic wars? There’s that famous frieze on Marcus’ column that depicts the scene. Maybe the shields of those sculpted soldiers can help you with a design.

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u/tyw7 1d ago

Rain miracle? 

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u/Percennius 1d ago

It’s an incident during the Marcomannic wars where the xii legion was saved from destruction by a rain storm during a battle with the Quadi. Cassius Dio writes of it and it’s depicted on the column of Marcus Aurelius. 

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u/tyw7 1d ago

Thanks. I had a look at the statue but can't make out the images.

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u/Straight_Can_5297 2d ago

Late empire: each unit had its own custom shield device. Earlier on it is hard to tell. Dura Europos shields appear to be individually customized.

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u/tyw7 2d ago

How about early empire? 

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u/Straight_Can_5297 2d ago

It is a source problem: for the late empire we have the notitia dignitatum and what little archeology can offer seems to corroborate it. Earlier on we do not have an equivalent of that document, so we are stuck with interpreting various literary sources, monuments etc. It is possible that there were legionary patterns. The only cache of surviving painted shields of decent size is from Dura Europos and it points towards individual custom patterns.

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u/tyw7 1d ago

Individual as in per person or per legion? 

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u/HaggisAreReal Palatine 1d ago

we don't know but don't overthink it. Is believable in the context of historic fiction.

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u/tyw7 1d ago

I want to make it realistic. How would I customize the shield to make it obvious which legion they belonged to? 

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u/HaggisAreReal Palatine 1d ago

you can just say there is s mall box with the legion number in it. Look around, some reenactors today do that.

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u/Straight_Can_5297 1d ago

Nah, a symbol is more likely than a number.

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&hs=icsV&sca_esv=84b8ef2f78d7a4ee&sxsrf=APpeQnszHiTNCpTtK2DXizi9TqYEjTAUxg:1788180447426&udm=2&fbs=ABfTbFWgwlc2MNw7uknLQP9cFo05YtUSpNgn2klEDQSYENClc9rC8PvVvFW40kjRYlUQHR37384hyYA0WqP36o5C6UG5LXhBFmx-My6VqiK41hifJccnZET9b0j5r5W0DLfkrIw9jjQcqNelSXMkIVd9pVwrIC3bpgimqhtRiwxiAHqxSM1REQwvwBxZKVc48eJQkNZY2q9XQ_5ai7pU7GFZFNWHt-GmWw&q=sh+roman+shield+pattern&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjApfOi88qWAxUa5AIHHa4tDeMQtKgLegQIFBAB&biw=384&bih=693&dpr=2.81

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u/Straight_Can_5297 1d ago

Keep also in mind that the number sequence was not unique, the were multiple legions with same number but different titles

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u/tyw7 1d ago

But the symbol are unique?

A lot of the shields I see are the same symbol. 

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u/Straight_Can_5297 1d ago

As I said to the best of my knowledge we do not know for sure. Some patterns are know from monuments, thunderbolt/eagle imagery seems a favorite in the early empire, and it is possible that such patterns were specific to each legion. But we do not have an "official" confirmation as in the late empire.

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u/tyw7 1d ago

The late empire have confirmation? Did they note down which symbol each troop use? 

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