Greaves and Vambraces in the rank and file

[MARCVS PETRONIVS MAIVS]

Maybe it's kind of like the lack of evidence we have of pugio usage in the 2nd century.

We use greaves Yuri, but mostly because we're a recreated Dacian War unit, and they were a big requirement during that campaign.

The only thing I can think of is the size of the scutum may have against some enemies using certain weapons, negated the use of greaves.

Economics isn't a factor I don't think...so who knows. Could just be a lack of sculptural evidence...

Thanks Matt, it is what I thought also. I understand the 'heavy' armour usually comes into play if anybody is re-enacting the Dacian Wars - Manica, reinforced helmets, greaves, etc.

I was just wondering about other time periods. Either the late romans re-used greaves due to changing circumstances in warfare, and this would raise the question of what made this change (perhaps the scutum becoming oval and the loss of some lower protection) or greaves never really went out of fashion, we simply do not have the solid evidence we have for republican and later roman times, as Jim said:

If we only by gravestones, pretty much none of us would be wearing segmentata.

So technically there would be nothing wrong in portraying say a late first century miles with a pair of greaves. I think it is a logical step towards more protection for the safety conscious soldiers (which would come out of their pay probably) with a practical form of armour that was never really phased out of service. I can imagine it would have also been popular with cavalry troopers, as they would be particularly vulnerable to a side blow, and even more vulnerable when going on a head-on charge.