Make Sure You're Sitting down...

...I wouldn't want anyone fainting from shock!  I have painted a unit of figures, as I hope you can see.  You can also see them in the Third Century Roman Photo Album and the following page.  The figures are, of course, from A&A Miniatures, and jolly nice they are too!

Clubmen2


It took me a while to decide to do this 'unit' - and I'm not sure what sort of unit it'll be either - will it be skirmishers or formed troops?  The reason for my being unsure whether to do them or not regards whether they actually existed.  The only mention of them is in Zosimus' "New History" (Book I), describing the Battle of Emesa between the Palmyrene army (which had a lot of cataphracts) and the Romans in AD272:

"The foot had to bear the brunt of the action. Observing that the Palmyrenes had broken their ranks when the horse commenced their pursuit, they wheeled about, and attacked them while they were scattered and out of order. Upon which many were killed, because the one side fought with the usual weapons, while those of Palestine brought clubs and staves against coats of mail made of iron and brass. The Palmyrenes therefore ran away with the utmost precipitation, and in their flight trod each other to pieces, as if the enemy did not make sufficient slaughter; the field was filled with dead men and horses, whilst the few that could escape took refuge in the city."

That's not a lot of evidence to go on, and certainly quite a leap from there to a 'cohort' of auxiliaries.  There don't seem to have been any Palestinian auxiliary cohorts, so they may have been legionaries normally based in Palestine...  Or perhaps mercenaries...  Or...  Who knows!  But they're nice figures, and that won out in the end!  Most of them are armed with clubs, but I scattered a few spearmen amongst them for added variety.

Copyright © Dr. P.C. Hendry, 2010