Sharp dressed men: the Roman military belt as a fashion item. In: JRMES 18, 2017, 85-100 (original) (raw)
During the first three centuries, the Roman military belt underwent many transformations in its appearance. While it had to comply with some minimal functional requirements, the different belt decorations evolved in a system that had little to do with practicality or fighting techniques and quite a lot with fashion. This paper examines the different fashions in order to answer questions on the motivation for the various choices and whether they mirror social realities and social changes in the Roman army.
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in: X. Pauli-Jensen & Th. Grane, Imitation and Inspiration. Proceedings of the 18th International Roman Military Equipment Conference, Copenhagen 2013. Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies 17, 2016, 115-120.
As Jon Coulston has pointed out some time ago, Roman soldiers did not wear uniforms in the modern sense. But historical sources prove that they still were recognizable to the civilian world as soldiers. This was mainly achieved by wearing the military belt, but it seems that other factors like a ‘military bearing’ also played a role. The available evidence also points to the fact that most soldiers wore a sort of ‘military dress’ recognizable as such through similarity but not uniformity. The sartorial choices of the soldiers seem to be partly connected to the general fashion of the day and partly to the supply of wares, but a large part of it was probably also connected to a sort of peer pressure which is best described by Bourdieu’s theories on habitus and taste. In my paper, I would like to describe the changes in the way Roman soldiers dressed, from the very Mediterranean model of the early Empire to the military dress described by Roman senators as ‘barbaric’ in Late Antiquity and the role fashion and the forming of a specific ‘military style’ played in this. I would also like to venture a model how differences in rank and occupation were made visible in the military. AVAILABLE ON ACADEMIA IN JUNE 2019
In: Nosch, M.-L. (ed), Wearing the Cloak. Dressing the Soldier in Roman Times. Ancient Textiles Series vol. 10, Oxford (DressID).
A Theoretical Approach to Roman Military Belts
In: M. Sanader / A. Rendić-Miočević / D. Tončinić / I. Radman-Livaja (eds.), Proceedings of the XVIIth Roman Military Equipment Conference: Weapons and Military Equipment in a Funerary Context (XVII Roman Military Equipment Conference, Zagreb, 24th - 27th May, 2010), Zagreb, 2013, 317-326
In my paper I address the question of how we can define a set of decorated belt mounts as having originally belonged to a military belt. In Roman archaeology, the term military belt is often used for any belt decorated with elaborate metal mounts. But many finds of belt mounts are found without a military connection, e. g. in graves. How do we know if these are really military belts? In the paper, I attempt to define a theoretical model, which will function as a guideline for the allocation of belt mounts to the military.
The paper explores the cultural components of Late Roman military equipment through the examination of specific categories: waist belts, helmets, shields and weaponry. Hellenistic, Roman, Iron Age European, Mesopotamian-Iranian and Asiatic steppe nomad elements all played a part. The conclusion is that the whole history of Roman military equipment involved cultural inclusivity, and specifically that Late Roman equipment development was not some new form of ‘degeneration’ or ‘barbarization’, but a positive acculturation.
The military belts of the equites.
In: H.-J. Schalles, A. W. Busch (eds): Waffen in Aktion. Akten des 16. Internationalen Roman Military Equipment Conference (ROMEC), Xanten, 13.-16. Juni 2007. Xantener Berichte 16, 313-322
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In: Hoss, S. & Whitmore, A. (eds), 2016: Small Finds and Ancient Social Practices in the Northwest Provinces of the Roman Empire, Oxford, 35-53.