The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

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The Roman A rmy
the knee , but it is likely that legi on a ries and auxiliary infantry wore them as
well , as shown on the sculptu res from Ad a m k l i s s i , in the Dobru d ja plain of
southern Romania.
Body arm or for all categories of Roman soldiers from the first to the third
cen tu ry ad con s i s ted of m a i l , s c a l e , and the segm en ted arm or made up of s ep ara
te bands hinged at the shoulders and joi n ed toget h er by leather straps and
h oo k s . These three types are re s pectively known to modern sch o l a rs as l o ri c a
h a m a t a , l o rica sq u a m a t a , and l o rica segm en t a t a , but it should be noted that l o ri c a
segm entata is not a term that the Romans them s elves used . Mail arm or was made
of i ron ri n gs abo ut 7 mill i m eters in diameter, s ti tch ed on to a back i n g. It was
worn by both auxiliaries and legi on a ri e s , and prob a bly con ti nu ed in use amon g
the legi ons even after the introdu cti on of s egm en ted arm or, wh i ch is exclu s ively
a s s oc i a ted in the popular imagi n a ti on with legi on a ri e s . A tom b s tone from the
F l avian peri od shows a legi on a ry we a ring mail, and the Adamklissi rel i efs also reveal
that legi on a ries sti ll wore mail arm or in the Tra janic Wa rs (Bi s h op and
Co u l s ton , 1 9 9 3 ) . The shoulders were pro tected by do u bl i n g,as shown on va ri o u s
m onu m en t s ; as men ti on ed above , the mail shirts were usu a lly hitch ed up over
the belt so that the whole wei ght was not carri ed on the shoulders .
Scale arm or was worn by some legi on a ries and by auxiliary infantry and
c ava l ry. The scales va ri ed in size , being wi red toget h er and sewn on to a cl o t h
b acking in overl a pping rows . Sm a ll er scales were introdu ced in the An ton i n e
period (ad 138–193). Scale armor was prone to damage, and it was not so easy
to repair as mail, where individual rings could be replaced. Fortunately for archaeologists,
finds of scale armor are relatively frequent compared to the other
types.
The study of segmented armor was vastly illuminated in 1964 when parts of
three sets were found in a box at Corbridge, a fort and town just to the south of
Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. Previously, the most common finds were
the bron ze fasten ers and fitti n gs from this type of a rm or because the bron ze
survives and the iron sections do not. The only clues as to how it all fitted together
derived mostly from sculptures. Using the material from Corbridge, H.
Russell Robinson reconstructed the cuirass, with its hinged shoulder plates and
the main body plates on their leather harness (Bi s h op and Co u l s ton , 1 9 9 3 ;
G o l d s wort hy, 2 0 0 3 a ) . Segm en ted arm or is not found exclu s ively on legi on a ry
sites, so it is not yet possible to affirm that it was worn only by legionaries (Connolly,
1998).
Body armor would not be worn directly on top of the tunic, but not much is
k n own abo ut the kind of pro tective jacket s , prob a bly pad ded , that may have
been worn underneath the arm or. Ad d i ti onal pro tecti on is som etimes shown
on sculptures, such as the arm guards worn by the soldiers in the Dacian campaigns,
but it is important to note that these segmented arm guards were not inven
ted solely to co u n ter the fe a rs ome Dacian f a l x . Th ey are found in other