“Nec sine marsis nec contra marsos triumphari posse” – “One cannot win [a war] neither without the Marsi nor against them” (Eppan of Alexandria)
The appearance of this miniature is the sum of many small choices, weighted on the basis of consulting numerous historical sources on the history of the Marsi.
The Marsi were an ancient Italic people who inhabited the shores of Lake Fucino, the third largest by extension before the Romans drained it in 52 AD, under the emperor Claudius. The one represented in this miniature is a Marso warrior from 500 BC, a time when the Marsi had not yet entered the orbit of Rome and retained a certain autonomy. The Marsi were a people who had specialized in mercenary work long before 107 BC, the year in which Gaius Marius carried out the historic reform in which in Rome's army there would no longer be citizens "lent" to the army, but professional soldiers. The mercenary regulated every aspect of the social life of the Marsi, who were soon forced to switch to a matriarchal society, where women managed almost all the choices of the community, while the men for work were away to fight.
ATTENTION: THE MINIATURE MUST BE ASSEMBLED AND PAINTED!
Marsican Warrior resin bust of a Marsican historical warrio
size bust: 1:10
pcs: 10 resin pieces
Concept Art: Luca Vergerio
Sculptor: Nello Riveccio
Box Art: Ernesto Reyes Stalhuth
Historical supervision: Francesco Proia
SHIPPING STARTS 1th March 2023
shipments will take place on a weekly basis in the purchase order
Sword and Armilles: The sword depicted in the miniature is a classic example of an Italic sword, complete with scabbard, with a central rib and around 60 cm long, found in many necropolises in central Italy and therefore also in Abruzzo. The handle is decorated and embellished with noble metals, as was the custom of the Marsi. The bond that united the Fucian warriors to their weapons was nothing short of visceral. In their tombs, compared to those of other peoples, food was rarely found, which in ancient times was thought to be useful to the deceased during his journey to the afterlife. In the tombs of the Marsi it was easier to find weapons, from which the children of Mars apparently did not like to part even when dead. From what we know, the warriors of Fucino had a moderate, moderate behavior, both in clothing and in food, but when we went into battle some historians tell us that they were the first to polish weapons and armlets, which they flaunted with magnificence and pride, since that wealth of theirs came precisely from their main activity: war. Obviously the conspicuous ostentation of gold and silver shown on the miniature can also be traced back to mercenary work. Being professional soldiers and participating in numerous wars, the Marsi certainly carried out important raids on the battlefield, to which must be added the fees with which they were paid for their services at the end of the war campaigns for which they had been hired. And remaining at the front for long months, if not years, the only way they had to carry all that money with them was to use it to buy weapons and armour, or to decorate them with precious gold and silver inserts. Even the helmet is a classic example of the Italic type, made of bronze, in which the parts have been assembled together with rivets. The lower part of the cap ends in a large brim, while it was customary to display feathers or plumes at the top. A separate discussion must be made for the shield, which as both Varro and Festo tell us, were called Decumani. The Marsi used these more opaque shields, which were larger and longer, for example, than the Samnite ones, which instead ended up sharp in the lower part. Varro, speaking of the shields invented by the Marsi, called "Scuta Albensia" and created in Alba Fucens, tells us"Samnitibus scuta ad summum aequali festigio, in imo vero arctata, quae Decumana dicta sunt, quae Festus Albensia vocat: Albansium scuta dicebatur, quibus Albenses, qui sunt marsorum genere, usi sunt"(Varro lib. VI, chap. 21) – Festus, in addition to telling us that their military discipline was outstanding, also tells us that their "singular shape of shields" that they [the Marsi] put into use deserved to be remembered, who, from the city of Alba, took the name of Albesi -"Albensia scuta dicebantur, quibus Albenses, qui sunt Marsi generis, usi sunt: haee eadem decumana vocabantur, quod essent amplissima, ut decumani fluctus" (Festo - De verb. signif. lib. I.). The design on the shield was selected because it was identified as a symbol of Legio Martia I, a legion that takes the name of the famous Legio Martia, founded by Julius Caesar and decisive together with Legio IV for Octavian's victory over Mark Antony. La Martia was made up almost exclusively of Italian legionaries, many of whom came from the shores around Lake Fucino.
Armor Disc: On his chest the Marsus warrior wears aCardiophylax, a cuirass disc, an essential part of that defensive armament that the Italian warriors used to protect the most exposed and vital parts of the body, such as the chest or back. The chimera was represented on the Fucian ones, a fantastic animal made up of a lion, a snake and other symbolic animals, which made the warrior feel protected and at the same time had the function of instilling terror in the enemy. Marse women also used Kardiophylax, but the female ones were smaller and were hung around the waist, and had a purely ornamental function.
Dress up: For the clothes of the warrior Marso the prevalence is the white color, which appears both in the dress and in the cloak that he wears on his shoulders. The choice fell on this color because the Marsi were an ancient people of shepherd warriors, who had a great tradition in sheep breeding. Both Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC) and Lucius Junius Columella (4-70 AD), magnify this image of the Marsi, who are always accompanied by their white shepherd dogs, described as upright guardians of the flocks and effective antagonists of the wolf and of the bear. The image of the Abruzzese shepherd dog has crossed the centuries unscathed and has reached the present day, therefore it does not seem at all strange that in those days wool was the most common and cheap fabric that the ancient Marsi warriors could have at their disposal , also excellent against the cold, an aspect that was far from secondary when you lived on the Fucino plateau, which starts from 700 meters above sea level and is surrounded all around by a chain of snow-capped mountains that reach almost 2,500 metres. Even the beard, thick and long, was probably commonly used to protect themselves from the cold. The breeding of sheep was also useful for the harnesses, such as the strings and leather laces, which tied the cuirass disc on the chest and around the waist of the warrior. The face of the warrior Marsus was made to express ferocity and warlike ardor, distinctive characteristics of that“gens ferox”, which have become legendary thanks to an infinite number of phrases and anecdotes that many historians of the past have handed down to us. Flaccus loved to remember how Gauls, Parthians, Thracians and Dacians, "still hide in their hearts the terror of the Marsi". Polybius told of how "The warrior of Dacia is seized with terror in the presence of the soldier Marso". Silio Italico reported that "it was the indomitable and fearless Marsi warriors who brought Rome to dominate the world", while Tito Livio maintained that "Only the loyalty of the Marsi to Rome allowed it to survive". But the most famous and certainly most suitable phrase to tell the indomitable character of the Marsi is certainly that of Appiano of Alexandria, who claimed "Nec sine marsis nec contra marsos triumphari posse" - "One cannot win [in war] nor without the Marsi nor against them". The Marsi, according to the Roman writer Publius Flavius Vegetius Renato, were behind only the Spartans and Athenians among the peoples who possessed the "warlike ardor". In his work "De re militari", known in Italian as "The art of war", Vegetius puts the Marsi in third place, ahead of other Italic peoples such as the Samnites and Peligni, as well as the Romans themselves. The skull was made larger than the rest of the bust on the basis of studies by Giustiniano Nicolucci, the famous Neapolitan anthropologist, ethnologist and archaeologist, who founded the Italian school of anthropology, which he always underlined as "due to their Herculean constitution and their athletic limbs, [the Marsi] can be called the Patagonians of Italy" It could be hypothesized that this bone thickening is attributable to malaria, which has always been very present in the Fucian riverbed, where the water level of the lake was not regulated by an emissary natural. Finally, in the miniature it is evident a bad wound on the face and the lack of an eye, a very probable event for a veteran like the one in the miniature, back from who knows how many and which battles he faced. Not having an eye was certainly not a disabling factor for a soldier, unlike hearing, which instead was essential to listen to commands in the field and for which one could be immediately reformed. (historical sources Francesco Proia)
