Padded Armour

[tlclark]

I picked up on this thread because I am looking at images of pteruges on the musculata.

Consensus is that they were leather, but I doubt that. Many show rumpled pteruges that indicate stiff cloth and not leather as in this example:



larger image:
http://astro.temple.edu/~tlclark/lorica ... odet2a.jpg

Elsewhere when we see pteruges, they have crosshatching, indicating stitching or weaving, indicating that the example is intended to be cloth or cloth covered.



Larger image:

http://astro.temple.edu/~tlclark/lorica ... ndet3a.jpg

This lead me to this thread where felt has been argued as a material for the subarmalis. With this evidence I think we should consider that pteruges are also felt or felt covered in cloth.

If both the subarmalis and pteruges are felt, then they can be made of the same piece of material. The bottome edge of the felt is merely cut to make the pteruges. The double row is also easily constructed. Imagine a subarmalis with two layers of heavy felt. Each layer is made of felt but the pteruges are cut so as to be staggered and overlapping. I think the trim on most of the images indicates that the pteruges were at least edged or covered in cloth, but I think that felt fits the characteristics of the pteruges better than leather does, at least as we see them in art.