Brilliant Minds Neded: a Multi Barrel Illustration of 1511

[fernando]

Originally Posted by fearn

...That makes it plain that Flavius Vegetius Renatus was not the author of these illustrations...

He sure wasn't. Even the persons depicted don't dress in a Roman fashion, but with renaissance outfits, as also other ambiance details.
Browsing on this Roman writer (and veterinary ) on the (wonderful) Internet, one may learn that he was such a preponderant guy for his time and later; some of his maxims are still quoted nowadays.
It's quite possible that a later guy (a 1511 anonimous?) decided to illustrate the war machinery described (or implicit) in Flavius writings on war tatics (Epitoma rei militaris), whether with a fantasized or even satirized intention, or simply with a naíve knowledge of such devices, releasing the leash of his imagination.
But probably Michael knows how to solve the riddle and his hiding behind the door, whatching ud wonderind and wandering .
Fernando