Legionary shields of the 3rd century AD: the shield from Dura Europos and an hypothetical reconstruction

The scutum from Dura Europos. The request for a 3rd century rectangular Roman shield (a scutum), based on the famous finding from Dura Europos, has given us the opportunity to make some interesting considerations on its decoration. The…

The convex trapezoidal shield in the Roman army

The trapezoidal shield apparently appears in the Italic panoplies at the end of the 4th century BC, during the Second Samnite War. According to Livy (IX, 40), in fact "The shape of the shield was this: the upper part, where it protected the…