This is the Legionarius, later 2nd/early 3rd Cent. AD (i.e Century) that first appeared in the Miniature Figurines 72/73 catalogue as PB 123. I have added 'Roman' to the title for clarification - Minifigs took it for granted that we already knew.
Both PB ranges were based on Phil Barker's books Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars and The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome. This figure is taken from illustration 23 in the first edition of AEIR.
The code numbers for the AEIR range correspond to the illustrations in the book plus '100', i.e. illustration 1 is figure 101, and so on.
The base is stamped PB 123 on the upper surface in the usual manner.
AEIR tends to draw its main inspiration for later legionaries from monuments - and given the paucity of other evidence at the time it was written that is understandable. This one is taken from the column of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD), whilst the spear armament follows Arrian who describes legionaries mixing ranks of spears and pila. Minifigs only made the spear - following the illustration.
I don't have an entirely unpainted example - but this chap has only his base painted green and I'm sure that will do just as well. Now why would anyone begin painting a figure by painting the base... no undercoat either!
No comments:
Post a Comment