Fine Art, Arms and Armor, March 15th 2025, 10:00 AM Central Time
Lot 7335:
Impressive Large Antique Roman Legionary Style SCUTUM Shield of Carved Wood & Iron, Painted in Traditional Patterns. A Highly Impressive Large Antique Display Example.
Size: 42" x 22 1/2".
The Scutum was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC.
The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formation of the hoplite phalanx of the Greeks to the formation with maniples (Latin: manipuli). In the former, the soldiers carried a round shield, which the Romans called a Clipeus. In the latter, they used the Scutum, which was larger. Originally, it was oblong and convex, but by the first century BC, it had developed into the rectangular, semi-cylindrical shield that is popularly associated with the Scutum in modern times. This was not the only kind the Romans used; Roman shields were of varying types depending on the role of the soldier who carried it. Oval, circular and rectangular shapes were used throughout Roman history.
History :
The first depictions of the Scutum are by the Este culture in the 8th century BC, and subsequently spread to the Italians, Illyrians, and Celts.
In the early days of ancient Rome (from the late regal period to the first part of the early republican period) Roman soldiers wore Clipeus, which were like the Aspides, smaller (than the Scutum) round shields used in the Greek hoplite phalanx. The Hoplites were heavy infantrymen who originally wore bronze shields and helmets. The Phalanx was a compact, rectangular mass military formation. The soldiers lined up in very tight ranks in a formation that was eight lines deep. The phalanx advanced in unison, which encouraged cohesion among the troops. It formed a shield wall and a mass of spears pointing towards the enemy. Its compactness provided a thrusting force that had a great impact on the enemy and made frontal assaults against it very difficult. However, it worked only if the soldiers kept the formation tight and had the discipline needed to keep its compactness in the thick of the battle. It was a rigid form of fighting and its maneuverability was limited. The small shields provided less protection. However, their smaller size afforded more mobility. Their round shape enabled the soldiers to interlock them to hold the line together.
Sometime in the early fourth century BC, the Romans changed their military tactics from the hoplite phalanx to the manipular formation, which was much more flexible. This involved a change in military equipment. The Scutum replaced the Clipeus. Some ancient writers thought that the Romans had adopted the maniples and the scutum when they fought against the Samnites in the first or second Samnite War (343�341 BC, 327�304 BC). However, Livy did not mention the scutum being a Samnite shield and wrote that the oblong shield and the manipular formation were introduced in the early fourth century BC, before the conflicts between the Romans and the Samnites. Plutarch mentioned the use of the long shield in a battle that took place in 366 BC. Couissin notes archaeological evidence shows that the scutum was in general use among Italic peoples long before the Samnite Wars and argues that it was not obtained from the Samnites. In some parts of Italy the scutum had been used since pre-historical times.
Polybius gave a description of the early second-century BC Scutum :
The Roman panoply consists firstly of a shield (scutum), the convex surface of which measures 2.5 ft (76 cm) in width and 4 ft (120 cm) in length, the thickness at the rim being a palm’s breadth. It is made of two planks glued together, the outer surface being then covered first with canvas and then with calfskin. Its upper and lower rims are strengthened by an iron edging that protects it from descending blows and from injury when rested on the ground. It also has an iron shield boss (umbo) fixed to it which turns aside the most formidable blows from stones, spears, swords, and other heavy missiles.
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