Byzantine Weapons and Warfare

[egfroth]

A lightweight outer garment would keep the direct sun off the metal of the armour - there is speculation that Western European knights adopted the surcoat as a result of the Crusades, as the Holy Land was much hotter than their own homeland.

But as one who has worn padding in combat, I can assure you that protection from the heat is the last quality you'd be expecting from it. Think of wearing winter woollies in a sauna and you get the idea.

The padding is an extra layer of protection. It has two functions - partly to absorb the force of a blow, and partly to distribute it so all the force is not concentrated in a single point.

Depictions of Eastern Romans (in ikons of Military saints, illuminations etc) show mail, scale and lamellar being used pretty much interchangeably.

Peter Raftos, I'm sending that quote to you in the mail today, along with some photocopied pages from McGeer with some questions of translation I'd like to discuss with you.