Parma (shield)

Parma or parmula (the diminutive of parma) was a type of round shield used by the Roman army, especially during the later period of Imperial history.

Characteristics

The Parma was about 36 inches (91 cm) across (or less) and had iron in its frame, making it a very effective piece of armor. Parma had a handle and a shield boss (umbo).

The Parma was used by legionnaires in the Early Republican period of Rome's history by the lowest class division of the army— the Velites. The Velites armor consisted of a parma, javelin, sword and helmet. Later, the parma was replaced by the body length scutum.

War use

It was used mainly by auxiliary infantry and cavalry, the legionaries preferring the heavier but more protective scutum, during earlier periods. It was used also by signifers (standard bearers).

In Virgil's Aeneid, the parma is cited as a weapon utilised by the Teucrians in defence against the Greeks (Battle of Troy), and later against the Rutulians.

Other uses

Parmula was the shield used by the thraex gladiator. It was also used by the Roman vexillifers or flag bearers that carried the standard that marked the cohort as well as most early auxiliaries.

Dark Souls

Dark Souls (ダークソウル, Dāku Sōru) is an action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware. It was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and published by Namco Bandai Games internationally. A spiritual successor to FromSoftware's Demon's Souls and the second installment of the Souls series, Dark Souls began development under the working title of Project Dark. The game was released in Japan on September 22, 2011, and in North America, Australia, and Europe the following month. On August 24, 2012, the "Prepare to Die" edition of Dark Souls was released for PC, featuring additional content previously unavailable to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 users. On October 23, 2012, the additional content from the PC version was released as downloadable content for consoles under the title Artorias of the Abyss.Dark Souls takes place in the fictional kingdom of Lordran. Players assume the role of a cursed undead character who has been chosen to make a pilgrimage out of the Undead Asylum to discover the fate of the Undead.

Shield

A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace, battle axe or similar weapon to the side of the shield-bearer.

Shields vary greatly in size, ranging from large panels that protect the user's whole body to small models (such as the buckler) that were intended for hand-to-hand-combat use. Shields also vary a great deal in thickness; whereas some shields were made of relatively deep, absorbent, wooden planking to protect soldiers from the impact of spears and crossbow bolts, others were thinner and lighter and designed mainly for deflecting blade strikes.

In prehistory and during the era of the earliest civilizations, shields were made of wood, animal hide, woven reeds or wicker. In classical antiquity, the Migration Period and the Middle Ages, they were normally constructed of poplar tree, lime or another split-resistant timber, covered in some instances with a material such as leather or rawhide and often reinforced with a metal boss, rim or banding. They were carried by foot soldiers, knights and cavalry.

Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II (ダークソウルII, Dāku Sōru Tsū) is an action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware. The third game in the Souls series, Dark Souls II was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and published by Bandai Namco Games internationally.

Dark Souls II was announced at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 7, 2012.Hidetaka Miyazaki, who served as director on the two earlier games in the series, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, acted as a supervisor, while the game was directed by Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura. Although set in the same world, there is no direct story connection between Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. The game uses dedicated multiplayer servers. Taking place in the world of Drangleic, the game features both player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) play, in addition to having some co-op components. As in the earlier games in the series, it once again features challenging gameplay, but with a more powerful graphics engine and more advanced AI system.

Parma

Parma [ˈparma]  listen  (Emilian: Pärma) is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its prosciutto (ham), cheese, architecture, music and surrounding countryside. It is home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world. Parma is divided into two parts by the stream of the same name. The district on the far side of the river is Oltretorrente. Parma's Etruscan name was adapted by Romans to describe the round shield called Parma.

The Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci (born in a hamlet in the countryside) wrote: "As a capital city it had to have a river. As a little capital it received a stream, which is often dry".

History

Prehistory

Parma was already a built-up area in the Bronze Age. In the current position of the city rose a terramare The "terramare" (marl earth) were ancient villages built of wood on piles according to a defined scheme and squared form; constructed on dry land and generally in proximity to the rivers. During this age (between 1500 BC and 800 BC) the first necropolis (on the sites of the present-day Piazza Duomo and Piazzale della Macina) were constructed.