Came across this interesting video from Tod’s Workshop on why movie props in “sword-and-sandal” films are often inaccurate. As he explains, the reasons are often purely practical rather than because of poor research.
There are interesting points here. In a few of these cases, I can possibly think of ways of getting around these problems. He points out, for example, that sabatons—pointed armor shoes&dmash;are a safety hazard on-set. He’s undoubtedly right, though they could possilby get around that by making them with rubber instead of metal, something that’s often done in movies anyway for armor or other props used in stunts.
Some of his other points, though, are things that probably couldn’t be got around easily: Brightly colored props causing strobing in the camera, helmets covering A-list actors’ faces, and swords with sharp points presenting an insurmountable safety issue.
