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For many years, the society has employed a reconstruction of a decorative spear head for its vexillum, or cloth standard, based on an original from the onetime Second Augustan Legion base at Caerleon (Bishop and Coulston, 1993). On further consideration, there is no reason why this item could not have in fact been a beneficiarius lance. An interesting representation of what may be a contemporary beneficarius can be observed on the so called Cancelleria relief from Rome. The individual in question carries a lance and parma (a small round shield). His lance is almost identical to an iron example from Germany. Curiously, he has a heavy beard and furrowed features, at variance to his clean shaven comrades standing adjacent to him. Many details of dress and equipment on the monument can be neatly paralleled by findings from frontier military zones. |
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A display of decorative spearheads in the Römisch-Germanisches Zentral Museum, Mainz.
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The society's replica of the Caerleon lance head (right) A similar find from Germany. © M C Bishop. (bottom right) |
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A section of the Cancellaria relief. The figure on the left may represent a beneficiaries (above right) And a close up of the lance head (above)
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