09-27-2005, 07:14 AM
Quote:'De Rebus Bellicis', Robert! :wink:Hi Aitor,
I'm not at home now and I cannot have access to it but the text says that the thorachomacus must be made of felt.
Aitor
I disagree, for two reasons.
a) the thoracomachus is not 'just' a subarmalis (even though it functions as protection under the armour), it's advocated as added armour.
b) we can't be sure that the thoracomachus was real, or just one of the inventions/alterations proposed by the writer of De rebus bellicis.
I realise (I think, I'm not at home too :wink: ) that the writer tells us that this is the subarmalis of the ancients, but if it was, then why mention it as a novelty is a manuscript of novelties and inventions?
Quote:Anonymus, De rebus bellicis, XV, 1-2:
`The ancients, among the many things which... they devised for use in
war, prescribed also the thoracomachus to counteract the weight and
friction of armour... This type of garment is made of thick sheep's wool
felt to the measure... of the upper part of the human frame...'
Mike, you wrote about it in M.C. Bishop, "Aketon, Thoracomachus, and Lorica Segmentata", in Exercitus: the Bulletin of the Ermine Street Guard vol. 3 no. 1 (1995), 1-3. Any opinions?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)