05-27-2015, 01:47 PM
Quote:Quote:Of course the Romans could and did, but they also had a subarmalis and a thoracomachusDid they? What is the earliest reference to either of these terms in the texts and how often are they mentioned?
A thought that struck me - so the primary literary source for the subarmalis is circa 1st-2nd century AD if I'm not mistaken (forgive me for forgetting the exact content of the source - one of the emperors ordering the Praetorians to appear in only subarmalis)? This is also the period where we see these garments depicted above. Perhaps the stand-alone subarmalis, as we see above, was a Roman development during the 1st-2nd century AD? Yes, yes, complete conjecture, I know. But there is definitely some garment, that looks very close to what we believe a subarmalis to be depicted in these images, and associated with Mars, no less.
Alexander