Sources for Legionary Uniform & Equipment

[deusvult6]

My little brother is currently writing a high school paper on the differences between cinematic depictions of Roman Legions and their actual appearance. All my books on the subject are currently in storage, so I'm asking here, the highest density region of history-literate persons I know of, on his behalf for any sources describing different armors, outfits, and uniforms for legionary personnel during different eras, ideally including illustrations. He'll be comparing to only several of the better known movies like Ben-Hur and particularly Gladiator. Any sites, or books (preferably ones that would be available in a municipal library) which detail any of that would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

[Dargaron]

Well, a good place to start would be to browse the EB Bibliography.

I can't say anything about how accessible it is, but John Warry's "Warfare in the Classical World" sounds like what you are looking for. It covers quite a bit more than just the Romans, but it has full-color and black-and-white illustrations of various kinds of equipment and soldiers.

As far as the accuracy of movies, I can't back this up (the source is a Teaching Company lecture, "Rome and the Barbarians," lecture 19), but Professor Harl of Tulane University says that the opening scene in Gladiator is fairly good, as far as costuming and such.

[Darkan]

Try Adrian Goldsworthy - The Complete Roman Army, it's great and it has exactly what you need and more.

[deusvult6]

Well, a good place to start would be to browse the EB Bibliography.

I can't say anything about how accessible it is, but John Warry's "Warfare in the Classical World" sounds like what you are looking for. It covers quite a bit more than just the Romans, but it has full-color and black-and-white illustrations of various kinds of equipment and soldiers.

As far as the accuracy of movies, I can't back this up (the source is a Teaching Company lecture, "Rome and the Barbarians," lecture 19), but Professor Harl of Tulane University says that the opening scene in Gladiator is fairly good, as far as costuming and such.

Thanks. That bibliography looks really interesting. I'll probably look into some of those personally.

Try Adrian Goldsworthy - The Complete Roman Army, it's great and it has exactly what you need and more.

Thanks a lot. A library a few towns over from my brother has one of these, so that's probably what he'll go with.

Thanks for the responses. My brother sure appreciates the help.

[Moros]

A complete forum dedicate to ancient, mainly roman, warfare and reenactment: http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/index.html

[Slydessertfox]

The Roman legions in HBO's Rome seem to be accurately depicted for the late republic.

edit: I also agree with one of the posters above me. Adrian Goldsworthy's book is a nice place to look.