Roman shields as well as the other military equipment was made by workers in the armories which were scattered throughout the empire.
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Roman society was divided into the patricians (the aristocracy), the equites (equestrians) who were bankers, money lenders, merchants and investors in shipping and mining, and the plebeians (the commoners). there were also slaves and freedmen
Usually, roman shields were red. A few roman shields were found at Dura Europus (Modern-day Syria). These shields were red in color, some were the traditional rectangular roman shield, others were large ovals. They were made mainly of poplar wood, with leather around the edges, and a dome of iron or bronze in the center. During the second century, the decoration of lightning bolts and eagle wings were the popular design on the shield, though this trend seemed to fizzle out in the 3rd century.
In the course of a battle military shields were essential. They protected the soldier from arrows and javelins. In close hand to hand combat they were used to block the enemy's sword or dagger. The size and shape of Roman legion shields changed from time to time, based on the fact that the history of Roman warfare stretched out almost 1,000 years.
According to the ancient writer Polybius, the Roman shield was convex in shape and had straight sides. It was 4 feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide. The Romans had several shields. The first known one was the clipeus and was modelled on the Greek Hoplon. It was round and concave. it was nearly 1 yard across and was made of wood with bronze on the outside and leather on the inside. In the Samnite wars, the Romans adopted the Samnite scutum. Originally it was oval and concave. Its size is mentioned above. The measurement is in Roman feet (1 Roman foot = 0.9708 English feet). Later it became square. The Parma shield was introduced in the late empire. It was used by the auxiliaries and the cavalry. It was very similar to the clipeus, but it was made of iron.
Some of it was made of steel, some parts were iron, which was less expensive than steel, and certain parts were bronze which was more expensive than steel, but superior in several respects, such as that it does not rust. The armor also have had important parts made of leather, to which the steel was attached.