--- In WABlist@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Jonas <jjonasartist@...> wrote:
>
>
> > OK, thanks. I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to
> > be seeing in the image you pulled out; is that a short stick
> > in the Perisn'a hand? It's no clearer in Sekunds, 19,
> > which also shows a better version of the Baseggio cup
> > drawing; I'm not convinced that's not a spear propping up
> > the spara.
>
>
> -----> The dude lying on his back is waving his kopis in useless defiance. The flimsy stick is propping the 'wall'.... this tripod arrangement is very flimsy as a barricade, as anybody will know if they prop a four foot tall board up with a dowel. A decent gust of wind could knock it over, unless secured by tent stakes or some kind of way to lock it to the ground. I can see a layered 'testudo-like' overlap giving it more heft... still without secure ground pinning all an enemy has to do is pull it back toward him to make the whole thing fall down.. a little teamwork and even a long wall of these wicker shields could be pulled over by a few men covered by their mates....
> I reckon it's the Spartan equivalent of "over me" onto the barbed wire fence.....
> All of this is why I don't see why spara is any different from a pavisse at all, except for the fact that a pavisse is probably more sturdy.
>
> JJ
Yep, that's the one from the Baseggio cup, and that's a long stick. I'm talking about the one that pops off the page when I open your link: the bearer is holding the spara, but he *may* have a faintly defined short baton in his other hand.
Again, I suspect the Baseggio cup (supine Persian, soon to be decedent Persian) is actually showing a spear propping it up, since you don't see Persepolis reliefs and the like with dudes carrying sticks. as you say, most images show the bearer with one hand on the spara (whether it has a built-in grip or not). But I am not an expert with access to the latest Persophile research.
(Hey, Jeff, I've got a great Paul Theroux quote for you about modern Greeks and ancient Greeks the next time we need it.)
What do you think of the suggestions that at Mycale, the spara were actually "dug in" a shallow trench, possibly overlapping, with supporting structures and gates built to code by licensed contractors, capable of withstanding a Force 10 Levanter, or holing up a phalanx of PO'd Lacedemonians for an extended time?
Allen
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