Loculus (bag)

A figure of a loculus on the Trajan Column in Rome (cast in the Landesmuseum Mainz)

A loculus is a rectangular Roman pocket that was used in the military. The bag had crossed leather straps on the outside for reinforcement. If a goat skin of medium size is used for the reconstruction, the maximum dimensions are approx. 35 × 25 cm. Whether goatskin or cowhide was used for it in Roman times cannot be said with absolute certainty. Both variants are conceivable. It was carried by the Roman legionaries on the furca (carrying bar) or possibly with the help of a shoulder strap over the shoulder. How the bag was closed can only be speculated about. The solution here is a triangular flap, which, similar to modern bags, covers the upper part of the bag and is closed with leather straps. Personal items (knives, wallets, primers) are to be accepted as content. The cultural scientist Andreas Gehrlach used the loculus as an example of an "individual space" of property that stands out from the standardized equipment of the Roman legionaries.

history

The only images of such "legionnaires' bags" can be found on Trajan's column in Rome. The leather parts found on Antoninuswall in Scotland, which Junkelmann assigned to such bags, are too fragmented to be able to draw conclusions about the appearance or even the reconstruction.

Web links

Commons : Loculus - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

Peter Connolly : The Roman Army , Tessloff-Verlag, ISBN 3-7886-0180-9 , chap. equipment

Individual evidence

↑ Andreas Gehrlach: The nested me. Individual spaces of ownership. Matthes and Seitz Berlin., 2020, ISBN 978-3-95757-861-7 , pp. 50–70 ( matthes-seitz-berlin.de [accessed on July 16, 2020]).

[1] Andreas Gehrlach: The nested me. Individual spaces of ownership. Matthes and Seitz Berlin., 2020, ISBN 978-3-95757-861-7 , pp. 50–70 ( matthes-seitz-berlin.de [accessed on July 16, 2020]).