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Name : Painted Romanscutum(long shield )
What it is : Awooden and leather shield used by a Roman Catholic soldier in battle
A painted Romanscutum(long shield) from Dura-Europos in Syria is one of only a few known examples.
Where it is from : Dura - Europos , Syria
When it was made : Second 100 A.D.
colligate : Babylonian pill preserves student ’s 4,000 - class - old geometry mistake
What it tells us about the past :
This grandiloquent , semi - cylindrical shield , which is in the aggregation of theYale University Art Gallery , is one of the few surviving examples of a Romanic " scutum , " the most popular cuticle type from the fourth century B.C. to the third one C A.D. It was excavated from the ancient city of Dura - Europos in Syria nearly a century ago , and probably belong to a Roman soldier who lose his life story in struggle .
Few examples of this type of buckler have survived over the millennia , even though it is well known from depictions in artwork . The Dura - Europos cuticle give archaeologists a immense amount of information about how this piece of armor was made . Several layers of wood strips were laminate together to make a airfoil that was 41.5 inches ( 105.5 centimeters ) tall , 16 in ( 41 curium ) wide , and about 0.2 in ( 6 millimeters ) compact . It had been shattered into 13 pieces and was miss its " umbo"or boss — a cup - shaped piece of material that would have protected the cardinal hole where the soldier deem onto the cuticle .
The front of the carapace was covered with kidskin , then painted . According to the Yale University Art Gallery , " the painted medallion reflects Roman iconography of victory , include an eagle with a laurel lei , winged Victories and a lion . "
The cuticle was discovered by archaeologist in 1933 under a munition towboat during excavations at Dura - Europos . TheRomansmade Dura - Europos part of their imperium in A.D. 165 , using it as an eastern trading post . But the city was abandoned in A.D. 256 after being besieged by soldiers from the Sasanian Empire of ancient Iran .
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Archaeologists found the skeletons of19 Roman soldier , complete with all their weapon and armor — including the scutum — in a burrow under a fortification towboat . While these soldiers may have just been trap by a cave in burrow , some expert think that the Sassanids were waiting for the Romans to break through . When they did , the Sassanids used naphtha — an ancient chemical weapon — to suffocate them .
After the fight with the Sassanids , house physician fled , and Dura - Europos was swiftly reclaimed by the desert gumption . It was not encounter until 1920 , when American archaeologist James Henry Breasted recognized the name " Dura " on a Hellenic inscription on the ancient city ’s independent gate .
