Tessera

 

Volume I, Number 4                                                                                        April, 2007

 

Avete, Comilitiones.

 

News/Events:

            The major event for the month of April was one of the best I have attended so far – the Georgia Junior Classical League’s annual convention in Eatonton, GA.  The Georgia Junior Classical League is a club of Latin students from around the state of Georgia, consisting primarily of high school students.  The event itself featured close to 1000 students and approximately 100 adults (teachers and chaperones).  The annual convention is always conducted in the month of April, and held at the Eagle Rock 4H Center located near Eatonton.

Although we received a last-minute invitation to this event from Ms Natalie Faulkner, one of the co-chairs for the event, it was worth the effort to pull this together.  Alex Kyrychenko, Andy Booker, and myself were present as legionaries, while newcomer Andrew MaGee borrowed the first iteration of our nascent loaner gear and was present as an auxiliary.  We were also very fortunate that Martin Kealy and Marty Howes, along with our Legio VI brother Josh Davis, were able to make it and give their usual superb gladiatorial performances. 

During the course of the event, we presented two formal workshops on the Roman Army of the 1st Century AD; set up a small “castra” with our tent and some legionary weapons and armor; and our intrepid gladiators put on 4 bouts.  The students, teachers and chaperones were very interested in everything, and Legio XI received praise from all participants.  In fact, we have already been asked to participate in next year’s convention and I have agreed to schedule the GAJCL Convention as our recurring major event for the month of April.  It was a blast, and I hope to invite Legio VI and other neighboring outfits for April ’08. 

As a final note – we asked for $200 to appear at this event, and to my surprise we received $500!  This act of incredible generosity has allowed us to order a second 8mm lorica hamata for our loaner gear – giving us two complete sets (once everything we have on order arrives – and we get the scuta painted!). 

I hope that everyone will plan to attend the event next year – it has been one of the high points of my time with Legio XI.

 

April Workshop:

            Speaking of auxiliary scuta, that was the focus of the April workshop which we held at my house on the 7th.  Thanks to the hard work of Alex Kyrychenko, Chris Stewart, Paul Montello, and Andrew Magee, we all pulled together (thanks especially to Chris for bringing a whole truckload of tools – especially his table saw!) and we were able to make the blanks for 3 clipeus-style scuta – two for our new loaner kits.  As of today, they are covered with leather front and linen back, and I have the paint, leather for the rims, and brass umboa to complete them.  All we need to do now is PAINT them – and I am going to need some HELP from our more talented painters out there.  The good news is that once they are complete we are well on our way to having our first two complete sets of loaner gear!

 

Member News:

            Thanks to the GAJCL convention, we may have some new members.  One of them, Keefer Dunn, is a high school student from Duluth, GA.  He is 17 years old, which is old enough to join the US Army with his parents’ permission, so I told him as long as he had their permission he could also join the “Roman” Army.  He has joined the Yahoo! site and I hope to see him soon at an upcoming workshop or event.

            In other member news, Alex has completed the scabbard conversion of his Find-It Armory gladius scabbard like the one I discussed in last month’s Tessera and on RAT, and has completely re-done the hilt and scabbard for his SOTW pugio.  With some very nice filing, he has re-shaped the hilt of the pugio into a very accurate rendition, and has replaced the painted leather of the scabbard (that ugly off-red) with a nice Royal Blue-dyed goatskin.  Laudes to you, as usual, frater!  You can see both of them on RAT.

            My current kit project is to make two helmet crests for my centurio impression, both using black walnut for the crest boxes.  I intend to make one crista transversa for my Coolus “C” helmet with the “pointed” crest knob, and the other for my remaining helmets.  One will have white horsehair, and the other will have red.  All of this assumes, of course, that I can actually do this right!  I intend to leave the walnut plain – just sand and oil it – as it is a very nice piece of wood and painting it would almost be a crime.

I had the walnut cut by Mr. Nick Cook, a local Atlanta woodworker who is famous throughout the Southeast for his woodworking skills.  I provided the wood, and he cut it for free.  Nick is a very nice guy and is able to make just about anything we could imagine, from hasta and pila shafts to hilt parts for gladii.  Email me for his contact information.

 

Loaner Gear and Financial Report:

            The two intial loaner kits are coming along nicely – thanks to some member dues coming in as well as the very generous donation by the GA JCL.  So far, here is what we have on-hand:

            2 x hasta

            2 x clipeus (still need to be painted and assembled, to include leather rims)

            2 x pugio and scabbard (one SOTW, one the new Deepeeka “Plain” pugio)

            2 x tunic/focale

On order, we have the following:

            2 x 8mm lorica hamata from Find-It Armory (I hope to have one on-hand by Castra Romana-Atlanta, and the other by the end of Summer)

            1 x Imperial Coolus “D” helmet

            1 x Imperial Coolus “E” helmet

            2 x linen subarmalis

 

You will note that I don’t have gladii on-order.  I saved them for last since we have a couple of spares among the membership that we can use until we make the money to buy them.  Also, I am not buying any baltei or caligae, since I expect the individual member to provide those to use with the loaner kit – which is why they are at the top of the list for “Assembling the Basic Kit” in the “Handbook for Legionaries.”

Financially, we are doing pretty well.  Including the event this past April and member dues, we have earned a total of $1150.00.

            After paying for the second hamata, we owe the fiscus $195.00 that I hope to make up with the upcoming event in May (for which we will receive $100) and by member dues coming in.  The more we make, the faster we can buy loaner kit items and materials.  For new members, dues are owed at your first workshop. 

 

Upcoming Events:

            In May, we have signed up for another school presentation, this time for 6-7th graders at the Davis Academy (middle school) here in Atlanta on May 16th.  Showtime is 1:00 PM.  See posts on the Yahoo site message board.

            Lots more events coming up in June.  Although I am still trying to attend Matthew Amt’s “Roman Days” from 2-4 June, this is looking less possible as the days pass.  If I cannot, then I know I will next year.  If folks were planning on going with me, then I would ask that you wait and see if I can go, or make your own arrangements to get there.

            Finally, don’t forget about our own Castra Romana-Atlanta scheduled for 14-17 June – I have updated both websites with the security requirements to enter Fort McPherson – I need to you send me that information (some have already) since this will make your entrance onto the installation much, much easier.

           

 

Upcoming Workshops:

            Next workshop is scheduled for Saturday, June 2nd at Chris Stewart’s house near Newnan, GA.  We will have a workshop no matter if I am at Roman Days or not.  I think a good focus for this one will be to help new members with some projects they have mentioned to me – baltei, helmet padding, caligae, etc.  So – new guys – bring some of your projects and we will help you complete them.

 

That’s it, Brothers.  This was a great month and I know that we will continue to grow.

 

Valete,

 

Gaius Aurelius Calvus (Edge Gibbons)

Centurio