Parma Shield: The Iconic Disk Shield of the Ancient Romans

The Parma Shield at a Glance

The Parma shield was a round Roman shield used by Roman soldiers from the 1st to the 8th century AD. During the twilight of the Roman Empire, particularly from the 3rd century onward, this disk-shaped, wooden parma shield gained considerable prominence and widespread usage among other cold weapons. The shield resembled the Greek aspis and it held a rich historical legacy in the realm of Roman military tactics.

Parma
Type:	Shield
Origin:	Ancient Rome
Utilization	Infantry, Cavalry
Diameter:	35 to 36″ (90–91 cm).
Weight:	5.7 lb (2.6 kg)

Origins of the Parma Shield

In the Woodwardian Museum, there was a votive parma (above) that was etched and gold-plated. On it, there is a possible depiction of Brennus’s 387 BC siege of Rome and Marco F. Camilo’s recapture of it, as well as a hump with a monstrous face with ram’s horns, greenery, and a twisted beard. It was most likely created during Claudius’ (r. 41–54) or Nero’s (r. 54–68) reign.

The Romans developed the parma shield for use by their cavalry and the auxilia (non-citizen troops) in the 1st century AD. Like many other things borrowed from ancient Greece, this shield was eventually a Roman version of the Greek aspis.

Roman infantrymen frequently used the Parma shield because of its effectiveness in deflecting arrows.

Certain signiferi (standard bearers) and even some centurions used it in the legions of the Roman Army. Some signiferi and gladiators used a smaller, spherical shield with the same name. The Thraex gladiators also utilized a shield called a parma or parmula.

Virgil’s Aeneid (a Latin epic poem) mentions the parma as a distinctive weapon employed by the Teucrians in their defense against the Greeks during the Battle of Troy (Trojan War), and subsequently against the Rutulians (an ancient people in Italy).

He associates the shield with the clypeus (another shield) of the Palladium (a wooden statue of Minerva or Athena) because, being small, the statue was also in proportion.

A Plain But Smart Design

While the legions commonly adorned their parma shields in a vibrant shade of red, the auxiliaries favored a blue-colored version of the same shield. This defensive equipment usually had an elliptical shape with a diameter of around 35 to 36 inches (90–91 cm).

The shield’s iron framework made it a formidable device. In addition to its usefulness in deflecting blows from the center of the shield, the umbo (the bulging shield base, or “shield boss”) served as a mounting point for the shield’s handle.

While it was mostly described as a round shield, there were bigger, oval variants, and they were named “clipeus“. Even though the clipeus shield was first used in Roman warfare after the 3rd century, both names are often used interchangeably in history, causing a bit of confusion.

History of the Parma Shield

In the early republican era of Rome (509 BC–27 BC), the parma was used by legionnaires, namely the lowest class division of the army, the infantry velites. A parma, javelin, sword, and helmet (made of wolf skin for display of valor) were their standard issue gear.

The velites were stationed up front in part for strategic reasons and in part so that they might earn personal glory in one-on-one battles. The Velites were the legion’s youngest and least well-off troops.

“These are not given to a soldier if in the formed array… but to those who in the skirmishing or in similar circumstances in which there is no need to engage in single combat, have voluntarily and by choice placed themselves in danger.”

Polybius

The full-length scutum shield eventually took the place of the parma after Gaius Marius eliminated velites during the Marian reforms (107 BC).

Lighter and better suited for the cavalry and signiferi, the parma shield was only issued to the auxilia for them to use in case of mutiny.

However, with the scutum shield and improved gear, legionnaires would have a higher chance of winning a mutiny. Legions used the parma shield again after the scutum left the army in the 3rd century.

Parma was used in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until around the 8th century, when scutum shields took their place once again.

The shield was raised above the head and hit with a sword to make a resounding ring in the Pyrrhic dance, originally an ancient Greek warrior dance.

The Pattern on the Shield

The Christogram emblem Chi-Rho (☧, from the initials of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, “chrismon”) was the most prevalent pattern on the shield in the late Roman and early Byzantine eras.

Roman Emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337 AD) used the Chi-Rho sign on a vexillum, or military flag.

The Byzantine army’s attacking force consisted of infantry mounted on horses and foot soldiers armed with circular shields (σκουτάτοι, skutatoi).

They were heavy infantrymen from the Eastern Roman Empire, equipped with spathae and spears. The Latin word scutum is where the term “skutatoi” (“the shied bearers”) originates.