06-04-2009, 12:58 PM
Yeah, there's really no solid evidence for doubling up on armor like that. Not only is there no real need to, but you'd have to carry all that weight on the march. Marching is a certainty, but battles are very rare!
There are little suggestions here and there of different armor types being combined in one cuirass, though again not much. A couple late republican reliefs show a mailshirt with shoulder flaps that do not seem to be mail, though we don't know if they are supposed to show mail with a fabric or leather covering, or just leather or layered fabric, or even metal plate. One relief from Arles *might* be showing a cavalryman in a mailshirt with segmented shoulders, but it's very unclear. A much later statue at Alba Julia seems to be showing a segmented cuirass with shoulders of scale or lamellar construction. So we can't say that they never mixed armor types. It does seem, though, that one overall layer was generally considered enough.
Valete,
Matthew
There are little suggestions here and there of different armor types being combined in one cuirass, though again not much. A couple late republican reliefs show a mailshirt with shoulder flaps that do not seem to be mail, though we don't know if they are supposed to show mail with a fabric or leather covering, or just leather or layered fabric, or even metal plate. One relief from Arles *might* be showing a cavalryman in a mailshirt with segmented shoulders, but it's very unclear. A much later statue at Alba Julia seems to be showing a segmented cuirass with shoulders of scale or lamellar construction. So we can't say that they never mixed armor types. It does seem, though, that one overall layer was generally considered enough.
Valete,
Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
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Legio XX, USA
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