03-31-2005, 11:50 PM
The most common assumption is that at the time, Roman soldiers were armored with mail. Tests with mail are inconclusive at present, because almost all tests are with butted mail or mail made of mild steel, not the mail Romans had which was made of riveted links, and sometimes with a combination of riveted and stamped links, made not of mild steel but of iron. Iron may be better at resisting arrows than steel in one sense in that it is softer and tends to bend and stretch, where steel either repels or breaks. In mail form it may have done a better job at resisiting arrows than our modern steel. However, mail, whether it is made of steel or iron can be penetrated at some point, when the force delivered is enough. <p></p><i></i>
"In war as in loving, you must always keep shoving." George S. Patton, Jr.
