How effective was Lorica Segmentata?

[Dan Howard]

Williams has already tested one variety of mail. It was a 15th century voider and a lot lighter than Roman mail. He also tested a similar reconstruction made by Erik. The amount of energy required to compromise them was greater than a person could deliver with a one-handed thrust - even with a hardened steel spike that was optimised for the job. A sword or lance tip required even more energy than the spike, and the heavier and denser varieties of Roman mail such as the Arbeia example would perform much better than Williams' test pieces. This is all covered in the MyArmoury essay. If you want to read the results yourself then they are in The Knight and the Blast Furnace, Chapter Nine. No way can a gladius punch through riveted mail. Why do you think they developed the estoc? It was a sword without an edge - just a long spike - and even then they needed two hands to get the job done.