Lorica hamata / segmentata

[Matt Lukes]

The reproduction segmentata suit we use in the museum at Caerleon weighs in at around 5 kilo (11 lbs, roughly). It's probably lighter than the ones you normally see re-enactors using because it's made from thinner thickness metal (around 1-1.5mm) than seems to be the norm. (We have another suit, which is an ex-re-enactor's gear - where the plate thickness is around 2mm and that is much heavier).

That's quite surprising since the segmentatae I've made of late, using multiple thicknesses of steel plates, as close as modern materials would allow to the thicknesses of segmentata plates quoted by Mike Bishop, (about 0.7mm for the girth section and as much as 1.3mm for the breast and upper shoulders) weigh in between roughly 8.75 and 9.5kg, depending on the size- even if a real 'Roman-sized' cuirass were somewhat smaller, 5kg sounds amazingly light.