I was beginning to write something along the party line that RRC 335/9 refers to the battle of lake Regillus and A. Postumius Albus’ throwing a standard among the enemy. And may be does. Florus Writes:
A battle was fought at Lake Regillus, for a long time with shifting fortunes, until Postumius, the dictator, himself adopted the new and remarkable stratagem of hurling a standard among the enemy, in order that it might be recovered. 3 Cossus, the master of the horse, ordered the cavalry to discard their bits — another new device — in order that they might charge with greater vigour. 4 So desperate was the fight at last that a tradition has been handed down that gods were present as spectators. Two young men on white horses sped over the battle-field like stars across the heavens; and no one doubted that they were Castor and Pollux. The Roman commander, therefore, himself prayed to them and, bargaining for victory, promised them a temple, and carried out his promise as though in payment to the gods who were his comrades in arms.
But on the above specimen, that looks a great deal like a falcata in the defeated enemy’s hands. And the so called standards don’t look much like other representations of standards. On some specimens the top ‘standard’ looks more like a helmet:
Standard iconography is seen elsewhere on the republican series
RRC 365 doesn’t look similar at all.
But 437 does bear some resemblance.
The falcata look alike is probably a fluke.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 