Michael J. Taylor
@drmichaeljtaylor
Associate Professor, University at Albany SUNY Greek and Roman History PhD UC Berkeley
If a Montefortino has a volute (some do have visors, at least in art, including so-called Ahenobarbus), its going to have be fixed separately, and so run along the brim and tie into the attachment holes for the cheek pieces.
The Walters Soldier has the neck-guard variant....along with a honkin' La Tene sword.
The myth of the Trojan horse is clearly quite old; it appears on a vase that was made around the time of the composition of the Iliad/Odyssey (c. 700 BC). And Homer is aware of the trick (Od. Book 8, 512-520), but doesn't think it particularly perfidious.
A draft map of the Battle of Second Herdonia, 210 BC. Hannibal envelopes a poorly deployed Roman army besieging Herdonia. Based on the brief narrative of Livy 27. 1 (also App. Han. 48 and Fronteinus 2.5.21. Terrain explains why the legions and Ala were not deployed abreast.
In fairness, modern roads can be cautiously used to assess routes and connections, although if I recall correctly this modern highway often has a deep cut. Paullus is likely moving up the plain roughly parallel to the modern road the day prior, when he encountered Perseus' blocking position.
OTD, June 22nd 168 BC, the Battle of Pydna ended the Third Macedonian War, and the Macedonian monarchy. Re-upping, w @profpaulj.bsky.social our reconstruction of this decisive battle, open source at GRBS. grbs.library.duke.edu/index.php/gr...
Thrilled to announce publication with @dominicmachado.bsky.social of our article: "The Carthaginian Masters: Settler Colonialism and Racecraft in Ancient North Africa" Arethusa 59: 151-178. We destroy Carthage one more time, only with theory. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
M14 prototypes, basically slapping a BAR magazine into an M1.
More experimental M1 variants; second from top (T26) was carved up by GIs in the Philippines to make an expedient Jungle Carbine.
Pedersen rifle and Pedersen device. Poor guy couldn’t catch a break.
Springfield Armory, MA. Garand prototypes and a sad Pedersen rifle at the bottom.
Whoa, just saw an inscription from Alba Fucens, 3rd century BC, dedicated by a colonial magistrate who calls himself a consul! He dedicated a statue to Hercules on behalf of the people (pro poplod) and the Alban muster (legioniquei Albesid, probably a cohort).
BMCR write up of a fine volume which included my chapter on the Battle of Magnesia (190 BC). (DM or email if you would like an offprint) Also includes a great chapter by @profpaulj.bsky.social and many others! bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2026/2026.04...
Pilate was finally relieved after he massacred a Samaritan religious movement at Mt. Gerizim, who were searching for relics of Moses (although supposedly armed, just like Jesus' followers). AJ 18.85-89.
One of his first acts as governor is to display standards with the emperor's image in Jerusalem, threaten to massacre protestors and then back down in the face of peaceful resistance (sound familiar?) BJ 2.169-174Fr
No lorica segmenta or rectangular scuta or pila during the Passion. Those are for the citizen legionaries stationed up north in Syria. Pontius Pilate's cohorts likely wear mail and carry flat oval shields. Their first language is Aramaic or Greek, although Latin for military administration.
Auxiliaries would have used a flavor of what @bretdevereaux.bsky.social aptly calls the "Omnispear." A lot of varieties of this.
In a moment where Roman military equipment plays a prominent role in the NT narrative, we might ask what type of spear was used to pierce Jesus' side. Safe to say it is *not* the Roman pilum, which was the weapon of legionaries.
So the soldiers in the Easter story are non-citizen auxiliaries. They likely looked much more like Hellenized thureophoroi (a type of Greek soldier inspired by both Celtic warriors and Roman legionaries) rather than like an imperial era-legionary.
Judea was an equestrian province, governed by an equestrian prefect. Outside of Egypt, equestrian prefects did not command legions. Rather, the soldiers assigned the Pontius Pilate would have been provincial auxiliaries.
Hollywood may not be too far off---as the sort of equipment featured on Trajan's column was mostly in use by the reign of Tiberius. But these are *citizen legionaries.* And they are not part of the Easter story.
This naturally impacts modern pop culture, where Romans involved in the passion are typically depicted as Hollywood legionaries, dressed in the distinctive lorica segmentata (although Hollywood loves leather for some reason, the real armor would have been iron/soft steel).
Easter is a holiday where the Roman army has a substantial presence, given that Roman soldiers were tasked with torturing and executing Jesus.
As a NYer and someone very interested in elected militia officers, I would note the first US Jewish military chaplain, Ferdinand Sarner, was elected by the soldiers of 54th New York Infantry in 1863, after Congress amended previous law which had required all chaplains to be Christian ministers.