Ancient object
Painted Roman scutum from Dura-Europos
Semi-cylindrical body shield
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Object provenance
Record incomplete- Object
- Semi-cylindrical body shield
- Material
- Laminated wood (plywood construction) with painted leather or parchment facing
- Made
- Evidence level: Probable3rd century CE
- Found
- Evidence level: DocumentedDura-Europos, on the Euphrates
- Excavated
- 1928–1937 · Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters
- Inventory
- Not recorded in this catalogue
- Identification
- Evidence level: DocumentedA Roman legionary shield of the type described by Polybius
It confirms the plywood laminate construction that the texts describe and that no other find attests.
Condition — The only substantially complete Roman scutum known. Fragile, and the painted decoration is partly lost.
Not recorded here
- Inventory number
- Dimensions
Read across
How to read the evidence labels
- Evidence level: Documented
- Supported by a named primary text or by excavated material evidence.
- Evidence level: Probable
- Supported by strong inference that most specialists accept.
- Evidence level: Disputed
- Substantial specialist disagreement exists; competing readings are stated.
- Evidence level: Literary
- Belongs to poetic or mythological construction rather than to history.
- Evidence level: Mythological
- Belongs to shared religious or mythic tradition rather than to any single text.
- Evidence level: Unknown
- The available evidence is insufficient to decide.
These labels describe the status of the evidence, not our confidence in a conclusion. A claim marked Literary is not a claim we doubt; it is a claim about what kind of thing a poem is.