Studien zu Paraderüstungsteilen und anderen verzierten Waffen der römischen Kaiserzeit

The find category of “parade armour” has first been described by Drexel in 1924 and comprises more than 500 specimens today. For the first time, these have been compiled in a catalogue including decorated helmets, masks, chanfrons, greaves, medallions/shield bosses, and breastplates. Although image representations and written texts are rare and often ambiguous, the finds provide a comprehensive insight into the matter. While it had long been taken for granted that the pieces were only worn for parades and the hippika gymnasia described by Arrian, it now becomes more and more obvious that they formed part of normal battle equipment for cavalry and partly even infantry. They were probably produced in stationary workshops in camps, fortresses, and vici. Single or multiple owner inscriptions attest that we are dealing with private, not fiscal property which was also sold at second hand. Favourite decorations included the eagle as Jupiter’s symbolic animal, deities such as Mars, Minerva or Victory, mythological figures like Ganymede, Medusa, and Pegasus, legionary and auxiliary emblems, e. g. the bull, boar or capricorn, as well as symbols such as wreath, shield, and plants.