Segmentata in the Eastern provinces

[Caratacus]

It's often suggested that Roman troops based in the east used lorica segmentata much less widely that those based in the west - or even not at all. Is there any real evidence for this, or is it a 'factoid'?

The only segmentata find I know of from the region is the one at Gamala, and that was particularly used by a soldier of V Macedonia, from the Danube.

If this is true, what might have been the reason for it? - Local supply? Custom or habit? Problems with sand and dust?

There were segmentata finds from Masada, but whether these were from a Roman soldier, or items captured from some by the Jewish forces is, of course, impossible to say. There were also examples of segmentata fittings from Morocco (Thamusida). It seems to be a fact that (apart from odd finds in places in western France, for example) many finds come from sites along the Rhine-Danube frontier - which is not entirely unexpected, maybe. What might be thought odd, though, is that roughly half the sites where segmentata is found are in Britain. It seems as though Britannia was one of the most heavily policed parts of the Empire, judging by the number of Roman military remains in these islands.




However, is the paucity of finds from the east simply because they have not been found yet? Excavations in Germany from the late 19th century into the early decades of the 20th century concentrated on the sites of Roman fortifications down the Rhine (RGL) and then down the Danube (OGL), so perhaps it is not surprising that we know of lots of examples where the armour has turned up. It seems as though the eastern Europe area has been neglected, simply because there was no incentive for anyone to dig there. That seems to be changing. I recently paid a visit to Romania and it was obvious that there was a lot of work being done at sites such as Ulpia Regia Sarmentigetuza. Time will tell!  

Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)