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11-01-2002, 05:23 PM

Hi, 
 
Just been looking through HR Russell Robinsons book on Imperial Roman Armour which shows an illustration of a statue or relief of a guy in a lamellar lorica cut in the manner of a mail one. This is said to be 1st Century AD and shows a pretty acurate gladius scabbard which has a three/four lobed pommel. 
 
Can anyone say how common this armour might have been and also has anyone any commments on the pommel ? Also what do you make of the suspension of the sword ? 
 
Regards 
 
 
Conal

Daniel S Peterson · 11-02-2002, 06:25 PM

Conal, it was most definately used by Romans, but actual finds are scarce in the first century A.D. period most popular with reenactors. Nevertheless, we have some Lamellar cuirasses in our group, and helped Deepeeka devlop this for their line.... a cuirass very similar to the ones on the Palmyran relief in brass, and a simpler late Roman/dark ages version. They will probably appear on the market next Spring. 
 
Given how accurate everything else looks on the relief, my guess is that the unusual lobate pommel is an accurate representation. Such a design may have been popular in Palmyra though not necessarily popular in the Roman army. 
 
Dan

11-06-2002, 02:22 PM

Thanks Dan, 
 
What sort of sizes will the "bits" ( are they called lames. lamels or are they called scales ?) be ? 
 
Would the tiny 3cm ones be strong enough ? 
 
Regards 
 
Conal

Daniel S Peterson · 11-06-2002, 05:10 PM

Conal, 
I suspect the really small Roman lamellar was a kind of parade or dress armor, as it doesn't seem to be strong enough to resist a serious hit. 
 
The lames on the Deepeeka armor are roughly 1 in wide and 4 in long. They are based on the lames in a nice cuirass I bought off a Russian "Viking" reenactor I met at the big Hastings battle. 
 
Dan.

Gregg · 11-08-2002, 01:01 AM

I think they're called "lames," but now I prefer "lamels." 
 
Gregg

Gashford · 11-14-2002, 12:48 PM

Dan 
 
Lamellar armour is something that has always won my attention when I have seen it but I cannot profess to know very much about it. 
 
Where the lames off the Russian 'Viking' Reenactor for a Viking outfit? Are the lames of Rome and the Vikings that similar, this owuld be quite interesting, presumably lamellar armour would have either been quite effective or cheap to manufacture if it survived as an armour type this long? 
 
Cheers for any insights. 
 
Graham

11-14-2002, 06:06 PM

If you can find it, look into Robinson's book "Oriental Armour" (I think that's the title). This was Robinson's other great specialty. It goes into lamellar armor in great detail. Also, there's a site called, I believe "Silk Road" with much info on Asian lamellar. The stuff seems to show little variation from time to time and culture to culture, except for size of the lames and lacquering practice. The Japanese, for instance, went absolutely bonkers with colorful silk lacing and lacquering, while other cultures took a less elaborate, more practical approach. It's interesting stuff and there hasn't been enough experimentation with it. On Matthew's Legio XX site there's a link to a German site called "Ulfheldnar." These guys do migration-era reenacting including the seldom-seen Merovingian and Carolingian periods. They've made some extremely impressive lamellar armors of Sarmatian/Merovingian design. Look them uop.

Daniel S Peterson · 11-15-2002, 09:41 PM

graham, 
Yes, the Russian guys were Viking reenactors, and had this armor for that period. Actually the squarish lames of this particular armor were very similar in appearance to both the familiar Etruscan and Palmyran depictions. Most later Imperial Lamellar seem to have rounded top "tombstone" style lames. 
 
Dan.

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