Roman Scutum

Origins

The earliest Roman soldiers fought in the Greek manner, in a phalanx with round shields. As Rome fought the Samnites in the mountains of central Italy in the fourth century BC, it adopted a more flexible formation of maniples, and with it a large oval shield, the scutum, probably borrowed from Italian or Celtic neighbors. By the time Polybius described the Roman army in the second century BC, the scutum was the standard shield of the heavy infantry of the legion, carried with the Roman Pilum and the Roman Gladius.

Design & Construction

Polybius describes the scutum as two and a half feet wide and four feet long, curved, made of two layers of wood glued together, covered with canvas and then calfskin, with iron edging along the top and bottom to protect it from sword blows and a boss of iron in the center to turn aside stones and pikes. One shield of this Republican type survives almost complete: found at Kasr el-Harit in the Fayum in Egypt, it is oval, about 1.28 meters tall, and made of strips of birch wood laid in three layers. In the first century AD the scutum became rectangular, with a strong curve so that it wrapped around the soldier's body. The best example comes from Dura-Europos in Syria, a painted shield of the third century AD, about 1.05 meters tall. The shield was held by a horizontal grip behind the boss (umbo), and reconstructions weigh between about five and ten kilograms. The face was painted with the unit's design, and in camp and on the march it was protected by a leather cover.

Combat Use

The scutum was not only a defense. The legionary advanced with it held close to his body, threw his pilum, then closed with the enemy, punching with the boss to knock him off balance and stabbing around the edge of the shield with the gladius. The curved shield protected him well against the swords and spears of Rome's enemies, and in close order the shields formed a wall. The most famous use of the scutum was the testudo, or tortoise: the front rank held their shields in front, the men behind held theirs over their heads, and the whole unit could advance under a roof of shields against arrows and stones thrown from walls. The scutum served in every war of the Republic and early Empire, from the Punic Wars to the conquest of Britain, and its fittings are found at sites such as the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

Legacy

In the third century AD the curved rectangular scutum was replaced by a flat oval or round shield, as the army's equipment and tactics changed. But the rectangular scutum, painted with the wings and thunderbolts of the legion and worn with the Roman Lorica Segmentata, is the image of the Roman soldier most people know, from Trajan's Column to modern films and reenactment. The word scutum survives in the term "escutcheon," the shield of heraldry.