Centre: King Totila, 553
For his horsemanship, Totila (Baduila) was called ‘abramal wair’ – ‘warrior without fear’. Here he is reconstructed according to Procopius’s description of him before his final battle at Tagina: an armour abundantly plated with gold, and a helmet with royal-purple hair tufts hanging from the cheek-guards and crest, ‘befitting a king, marvellous in their abundance’ (BG, VIII, [XXXI, 18]). Gothic shields were made of planks covered with leather and painted; they were often adorned with appliqué metal representations of birds, fishes or beasts, as well as with Arian Christian crosses.
Right: Royal standard-bearer, 547
This domesticus pater equitum is Totila’s ‘household’ standard-bearer, destined to be killed during his king’s second siege of Rome in 547. Dismounted here, he is characteristically equipped as a heavy cavalryman with gear that is both described in written sources and confirmed by archaeological evidence. The helmet is reconstructed from a find in the ‘Domagnano treasure’ and fragments of another Deurne-Dunapentele example from Sirmium, while the lamellar armour is from recent finds at Kranj. His standard is our hypothetic reconstruction, combining the Arian cross with the eagle of Wotan.
Left: Gothic capillatus, mid-6th century
Serving Gothic soldiers may have been distinguished from civilians by their long hair (as capillati), a survival from the Late Roman military. Whether this term meant a particular hairstyle, or simply referred to serving soldiers being typically hirsute, is unclear. A distinctive type of shield is described by Procopius as used by the Gothic infantry to protect them from arrows during siege operations: rectangular, and made of either wood or wickerwork (BG, V, 87). During the siege of Rome Procopius mentions Gothic warriors holding in front of them shields ‘as big as the long Persian ones’ (BG, V, 22) – a reference to the Sassanian tradition.
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