In our time of television and "topical news", the general haste and, as a result, the desire to get everything as soon as possible, including knowledge, it is not surprising that many people often do not know basic things and constantly ask: "where is this know? " How is it known that the Etruscans are not Russian, because the words are similar, whence it is known that in such and such a century Roman soldiers wore daggers, but in such and such a century they did not, that the Romans did not use a bow and sling, but widely used mercenaries, who also used that, and others, and so on and so forth … Meanwhile, there are written sources, archaeological finds and, say, such an outstanding historical monument of Roman history as Trajan's Column.
Here it is - "Square Colosseum"
In the material on the pages of VO "Do not believe your eyes or the column of Emperor Trajan as a reliable historical source" (https://topwar.ru/73172-.html) this monument has already been considered. However, this topic is so interesting that it makes sense, without repeating itself, to return to it again, taking into account new information. And we will have to start … with a wish in one of the comments to preserve this most interesting monument. Here is what was written there: silver169 “Such a most valuable, unique historical example of the late Roman period must be kept in a closed pavilion. Let us recall what happened to the world-famous sculpture by Michelangelo "David", which was under the open sky for a long time and suffered greatly from the effects of precipitation and weathering. In the end, the sculpture was forced to move inside the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts. But this happened back in 1873. In our time, precipitation is a real acid that destroys marble. It's a shame if the thread on Troyan's column dies. After all, this is the historical heritage not only of Italy, but of the entire cultural world."
Initially, the column was not intended to be white. Her figures were supposed to be painted in different colors, and her characters were supposed to have miniature bronze weapons in their hands!
This is how it should have looked in the original!
Quite logical, isn't it? But … disassemble the column and transport it somewhere, or, on the contrary, hide it inside the glass column-case … Of course, the problem with its safety will have to be solved very soon. But, the Italians nevertheless made sure that at least copies of all her wonderful bas-reliefs would be kept under the roof and would not be exposed to atmospheric influences in any way. So now, if you find yourself in Rome and want to carefully examine all of its wonderful bas-reliefs, you do not need binoculars or a quadcopter. You can just sit in a taxi and say: "Exposition Universale Romana" and you will be taken there, since it is only 20 minutes from Rome. There you will immediately see a building of fantastic architecture. Very similar to the Colosseum, but white and cubic in shape! It was built by the dictator Benito Mussolini as a pavilion for the 1942 world exhibition, and to adequately celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the fascism he invented and the beginning of the Fascist era. Because of the war, the exhibition never took place, and Mussolini himself was overthrown in 1943. And this very "palace of fascism", Colosseo Quadrato or Square Colosseum, was turned into the Palace of Italian Civilization (Palazzo della Civilta Italiana). Like the Colosseum, its facades consist of loggias arranged in six rows of nine arches each. The Italians are sure that all this is equal to the number of letters in the name "Benito", and, accordingly, in the surname "Mussolini".
The inscription on the pedestal.
The entire palace is covered with marble. Its base occupies 8,400 square meters, and the entire volume of the building is 205,000 cubic meters with a height of 68 meters. The sculptures of the Dioscuri are installed in four corners. Well, as for Trajan's Column, this building is now connected with it in the most inextricable way: it contains plaster casts of all of its bas-reliefs, but there is an unfolded "plaster panel" 190 meters long. All casts were made using vixynth matrices, thus, an exact copy of all the reliefs of the column was created in the form in which they are today, that is, with all the existing damages. And, of course, this was done more than timely, since the condition of the column is constantly deteriorating - automobile exhaust gases cause irreparable damage to it. It has been proven that over the past 50 years it has worsened more than in all the previous 1850 years. In addition, it begins to gradually deviate from its vertical position, and so far no one knows how to deal with this. Moreover, it is very difficult to fix it. After all, the column was built without the use of a bonding solution. All its blocks are connected by iron or copper clamps, and those, in turn, are filled with lead, but the clamps themselves are in the thickness of the blocks.
The column stands on a plinth-pedestal, decorated with bas-reliefs depicting Dacian trophies. And here's what it says: "SENATVS POPVLVSQVE ROMANVS IMP. CAESARI DIVI NERVAE F. NERVAE TRAIANO AVG. GERM. DACICO PONTIF. MAXIMO TRIB. POT. XVII IMP. VI COS VI PP AD DECLTAANDVM QVEST "-" The Senate and the Roman people [erected this column] Emperor Caesar Nerve Trajan Augustus, son of the divine Nerva, Germanic, Dacian, Great Pontiff, endowed with the power of the tribune of the people for the 17th time, the Emperor for the 6th time, the Consul for the 6th time. the third time, to the Father of the Fatherland, so that it could be seen how high the hill was dug down to make way for the construction of these such significant structures. " It is known that forgeries in marble fail, so those who overthrow the foundations about the antiquity of this monument need not worry - questioning its antiquity is the same as doubting that the Sun rises in the East.
Staircase leading to the inside of the column.
It is known that there were two wars with the Dacians: 101 - 102 years. AD; 105 - 106 BC AD The last war ended with the annexation of Dacia to the Roman Empire. Well, now we turn to the main thing: what can we see on the bas-reliefs of Trajan's column, if we carefully examine them almost closely.
So, the Romans have protective armor: there are only three of them. Roman legionnaires are clad in lorica segmentata plate armor of curved and overlapping metal strips; auxilaria (auxiliary troops) wear lorica hamata chain mail; well, among the archers, many in scaly armor lorica scuamata.
This is how the room looks like with copies of the column bas-reliefs.
The reliefs of Trajan's column convincingly prove that Eastern warriors could wear several types of armor at once. Over their long, down-to-heel clothes, they could have been wearing a chain mail shirt with short sleeves of the "Lorika Hamata" type, and a carapace made of metal scales of the "Lorica Skumata" type fitted to each other. According to Michael Simkins, the advantage was still given to chain mail, since it was more convenient in battle and less constrained the movements of the eastern shooter, although scale armor was superior to chain mail in strength. Well, so that neither metal scales nor rings rubbed their necks, the soldiers usually tied it with a handkerchief.
Legionnaires on the march.
Epigraphic sources indicate that most of the eastern auxiliary units that fought in Moesia and Dacia consisted precisely of archers armed with a composite bow. During the first two centuries of the new era, their importance in the Roman army increased all the time and reached its climax in the 3rd century. AD So no invasions of the Huns and the Goths have anything to do with it. Archers from Palmyra were especially appreciated. They had excellent compound bows, characteristic only for eastern peoples, bows, differing from all others in their fighting qualities.
Syrian archers and Germanic slingers.
Almost all experts who studied the military science of Ancient Rome note both the power and also the range of this type of weapon. A heavy combat arrow fired from it flew 150-200 m, and a light one twice as far. This bow was considerably shorter than the English longbow. It was made of wood, and for greater strength, it was strengthened on the inside of the bend with horn plates, and on the outside with tendons. The penetrating power of the weapon was increased by reinforcing the ends of the bow with horn tips. The shooter had from 12 to 24 arrows, which were stored in a fire (lit - a wooden case for a bow and arrows; a separate case for a bow - a bow case or sideak, a case for arrows or bolts - a quiver; sideak, in addition, is used as a synonym for gorite), which was worn on a harness, slung over the right shoulder, on the back. In the arsenal of the sagittarius, that is, the archer, there was also a sword of the Roman model, which he, like an ordinary infantryman, carried in a scabbard on his right side.
Note the flat circle to the right and below the emperor's figure. This is nothing more than a repaired hole, which was made by "metal hunters" in order to obtain copper brackets that held the marble drums of the column together. It turns out that the entire Colosseum is in exactly the same holes.
The Wikipedia article "Romfei" indicates that the Dacians used something like a romphea, but only their weapon was called a falx. The main difference between them was in the curvature of their blades: in the rhomphae it was straight or slightly curved, but in the falx, the blade was curved very strongly. Pay attention to the damage done to the bas-reliefs by nature - the impression is as if the bas-reliefs were gnawing at a mouse!
The allies of the Dacians in this war were the Sarmatians, who supplied the Dacians with cavalry, and this is what Tacitus writes about this: the armor of the Sarmatian leaders and noble warriors is so heavy that a soldier who has fallen from a horse can hardly get to his feet without assistance. And also "that their spears and swords are so long that they have to be held with both hands."
As noted in the previous article, a number of downright surprising contradictions are clearly visible on the column. So, among the running Sarmatian horsemen, not only themselves are covered with scales, but also their horses, and even their tails! Here we see Sarmatian armor in the form of trophies - these are normal shirt-cut scaly shells known from archaeological finds.
Sarmatian trophies.
That this is the incompetence of the sculptor or an evil satire? Alas, today it is not possible to prove both of these statements. In addition, many Roman horsemen or legionnaires of the auxiliaries have very short chain mail with scalloped hem. The Syrian archers have very long ones, while the Romans are too short, so they don't even cover the "most important thing". And besides, the Romans have, without exception, very small shields.
You can't build a decent "turtle" out of such small shields!
Analyzing the frequency of the image of flat oval shields among soldiers on a column and tiled rectangular scutums, we can make an amazing conclusion that the former are more than 80%, and the latter, for some reason, are very few, and if we know exactly who which shields belonged to the Romans at that time, then … who then fought in Dacia? It turns out that the bulk of the Roman troops even then consisted of mercenaries - auxiliaries, eastern archers and German slingers, and there were very few legionaries among them!
You might think that dismounted cavalry fought there for the most part, about which it is known that its main unit was the ala of 500 people (ala quingenaria), which consisted of 16 turms of about 30 horsemen each. It is believed that the imperfection of the Roman cavalry is due to the imperfection of the horse harness. They did not have stirrups or saddles, instead of which each horse had two blankets (go chapraka), lower and upper, made of cloth, leather or fur, reinforced with a belt girth, as well as a bib and a henchman. The lower blanket was longer and wider, sometimes with a fringe along the edge, and the upper one was shorter and narrower, with scallops along the lower edge. Both blankets were connected with ribbons, buttons or belts. The bib and pendant were decorated with metal plates in the form of crescents, embossed discs and flat flower buds. A bridle with two reins and head straps with decorations was used to control the horse. Here on the horse "dressed" in all this sat a Roman horseman with a shield on his left hand, holding the reins in it, but in his right spear or sword. It was necessary to drive a horse with reins and legs, but fighting and driving a horse with such a harness was quite difficult, especially since the Romans themselves were by nature more infantrymen than horsemen.
Roman horseman from Trajan's column.
A block of stone this size would be too heavy to lift and carry on your shoulder like that. And either this is an earthen block, or another liberty of the artist, thus demonstrating the strength of the Roman soldiers.
Decebalus wears a typical Dacian helmet and carries a long sword. Everything is exactly the same as in the movie "Ducky".
Dio Cassius writes that the head and right hand of Decebalus (this is also mentioned in the famous films "Daki" and "The Column") was offered to Trajan, who was in the fortress of Rannisstorum, the location of which is unknown. In 1965, during excavations near the city of Philippi in Macedonia, archaeologists found the tombstone of the explorer (exploratores) of the Second Pannonian ala Tiberius Claudius Maximus. The inscription on it says that it was he who managed to capture the body of the Dacian king, and then delivered the bloody trophy to his emperor. First, the head of Decebalus was put on a platter in the middle of the Roman camp, and then it was sent to Rome, where it was thrown from the Hemonium terrace into the Tiber. So the reliability of the scenes depicted on the column is very high, but questions about the details of military equipment still remain!
"And they finished their trip on the Pacific Ocean!" On the left, at the very top, the Dacians leave Dacia and steal their cattle with them.
