Tag Archives: illustration

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Ancient Roman Weapons

In the same vein as my previous posts on Ancient Egyptian weapons and Ancient Greek helmets and weapons, here is an illustration of common weapons used in Ancient Rome.

A collection of typical weapons used in Ancient Rome

Left column, from top to bottom:

  • Iron head of Roman pilum.
  • Bronze sheath for sword below.
  • Sword worn with belt called a parazonium, 10 inches long, iron.
  • Short sword called a poniard, bronze.
  • Sword, 22 inches long, iron.
  • Sword, 25 inches, long, iron. This particular example has an armorer’s mark of Sabini.
  • Sword, 23 inches long, iron.
  • Sword, 26 inches long, iron. Hilt is ornamented with bronze
  • Dacian sword. From Trajan’s Column erected in 113 CE.

Center: Signum, or badge, or Roman cohort, bronze. Found in Asia Minor.

Right column, from top to bottom:

  • War-hatchet, iron.
  • Head of javelin, 6 inches long, iron.
  • Bill, bronze. This particular example was found in Ireland.
  • Plain war-hatchet, bronze.
  • Plain war-hatchet, bronze. It’s shape shows it is a weapon, not a tool.
  • Bill, iron. From the ruins of Pæstum.
  • Head of javelin, 11 inches long, iron.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.

Education

History of the US Flag

Happy Fourth of July to all my US readers! I made this handy guide for how the flag has appeared throughout the history of the United States, so if your play is set during a specific year and it calls for a flag, you can quickly see the number and layout of the stars needed.

Flags of the USA throughout history
Click for a larger size

The layout of the stars was officially standardized in 1912, while the colors were standardized in 1934. In the guide above, I put the most typical flag of the period first, with alternate patterns and special flags listed after. Starting in 1818, the new flags were introduced on July 4th of the year listed.

In 1942, the Federal Flag Code was passed to provide uniform guidelines for the display of flags. One frequent complaint from flagophiles about many movies is the incorrect positioning of a flag in the vertical position. According to the code, the blue part should be on the left.

vertical positioning of the US flag
vertical positioning of the US flag

For more about the code, check out this illustration of how to display the flag. This of course brings up the prop master’s dilemma; if it is a “common” mistake to display a hanging flag with the blue field on the right, then it is conceivable that the character in the play who hung the flag would have made the same mistake. In other words, dressing and decorating a set isn’t about doing what is correct, but rather what is truthful to the characters and world of the play. Just like a character may drink wine out of a coffee cup, so too may one wear a jacket made out of a flag. Here is a whole blog dedicated to finding incorrect displays of the American flag.

As an interesting side note, there is only place where an official flag is never brought to half-mast during a period of mourning. That place? The Moon.

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Ancient Greek Weapons

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Pulling from the same source as my previous posts on Ancient Egyptian weapons and Ancient Greek helmets, I’ve assembled a collage of common weapons used in Ancient Greece.

Ancient Greek weapons

1. Greek sword, bronze, 19.5 inches.

2. Greek sword, bronze, 32 inches.

3. Greek sword, bronze, 25 inches, called Gallo-Greek.

4. Bronze sheath belonging to the previous sword.

5. Bronze lance-head.

6. Hand arbalest, or balista, similar to a crossbow. The drawing is taken from a description in a Byzantine text, but its actual use in Ancient Greece is doubtful.

7. A coat of mail showing how the sword is worn on the right.

8. Antique spur, bronze.

9. Greek spur, bronze.

10. Greek or Etruscan mace-head, covered in points.

11. Antique dagger, bronze, 16.5 inches. Called a “parazonium”, it was common to both Greeks and Romans.

12. Hatchet, bronze.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.

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Ancient Greek Helmets

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A few days ago, I posted some illustrations of Egyptian weapons from an 1894 text on arms and armor. Continuing in that vein, here are some pictures of various Greek and Etruscan helmets.

Greek Helmets

First row, from left to right:

  • Greek casque called a “kataityx”, probably in leather, from the 8th century BC.
  • Etruscan casque in bronze, first period.
  • Etruscan casque in bronze.
  • Bronze casque attributed to the Umbrians (allies of the Etruscans)

Second Row:

  • Etruscan casque in bronze. A similar helmet exists in gold.
  • Etruscan casque in bronze with fixed visor.
  • Greek casques in bronze with inscriptions.
  • Greek casque of the hoplites. Bronze.

Third Row:

  • Greek casque in bronze.
  • Greek casque in bronze with reliefs, antennae and a crest-holder.
  • The perfect Greek classic casque seen in many sculptures (though no actual artifacts have survived).
  • Greek casque ornamented with horsehair.

Fourth Row:

  • Greek casque with horsehair crest and embossed details.
  • Crest of a Greek casque in bronze.
  • Greek casque with neck covering in bronze.
  • Greek casque with chin-strap. Bronze.
  • Greek helmet with neck-covering and plume-holder for a horseman.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.

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Egyptian Weapons

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I came across a book with some fun little illustrations showing the history of arms and armor through history. The pictures are not terribly detailed, but they give a good overall look at the shapes and styles of common weapons in various historical periods. The first one I’ll be showing is on Egyptian weapons.

The types and styles of Ancient Egyptian weapons

1. A mural painting of Thebes showing Egyptians fighting.

2. Egyptian soldiers from Theban bas-reliefs.

3. Egyptian coat of mail. Some coats which have survived to the present have bronze scales, each scale measuring an inch and a half tall by three-fourths of an inch wide.

4. Egyptian coat in crocodile’s skin. From the Egyptian Museum of the Belvedere, Vienna.

5. Egyptian buckler with sight-hole.

6. Sword-breaker

7. Egyptian quiver

8. Egyptian hatchet

9. Sword

10. Scimitar

11. Dart

12. Sling

13. Unknown weapon

14. Unknown weapon

15. Hatchet, from bas-reliefs of

Thebes.

16. Scorpion or whip-goad. These were most likely 25 to 27 inches long. They were probably in bronze and iron.

17. Egyptian wedge or hatchet, bronze (4 inches). From the Museum of Berlin.

18. Egyptian knife or lance-head, iron (6 inches). Also from the Museum of Berlin.

19. Shop or khop, an Egyptian iron weapon (6 inches). Museum of Berlin.

20. Egyptian lance-head, bronze (10 and a half inches). Louvre.

21. Egyptian poignard, bronze. The handle is fixed upon a wooden core.

22. Egyptian hatchet, bronze, bound with thongs to a wooden handle of 15 and a half inches. British Museum.

23. Egyptian hatchet, bronze (4 and a half inches), fixed into wooden handle of 16 and a half inches. Louvre.

24. Bronze dagger (14 inches). Louvre.

25. Egyptian poignard, bronze (11 and a half inches), found at Thebes. The handle is in horn.

26. Egyptian poignard and sheath, bronze, 1 foot long. Ivory handle, ornamented with studs in gilded bronze.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.