Padded Armour

[Crispvs]

I'm not sure if this has already been brought up in this thread or not as I am in a bit of a hurry and haven't the time right now to read back over it all, but has anyone wondered whether the Libyan Hide might not have been worn over the mail while the thoromachos was worn underneath it? The hide would protect the mail from rust damage whilst the thoromachos would protect the man from concussion damage. Is this too simple an explanation? Thirty years ago, Robinson pointed out that a number of the 1st century AD Rhineland tombstones showed mail which was covered by close fitting overgarments. This fact seems to have been ignored by most commentators since, apart from the occasional person who suggests that the scuptors wanted us to think that these smooth surfaces were evidence that the sculpters weren't keen on depicting mail (despite consistantly doing a very good job on a narrow strip visible below the smooth surface and above the bottom of the tunic). Could the Lybian hide of the DRB be the overgarments seen on the Rhineland tomstones? If the thoromachos was ancient why should the "Lybian hide" not be just as ancient?
As to covering armour with a cloak to keep it dry, this is fine when not involved in combat, but, having tried fighting in a cloak on a number of occasions, I can testify that it does nothing during a fight other than getting in the way. Thus a closer fitting, yet flexible, protective covering would be useful for protecting the armour from environmental damage under battlefield conditions, especially on campaign.

I haven't read DRB so thus I confess ignorance of most of its contents, but could it be that the innovation might be the wearing of a thoromachos and a coat of Lybian hide WITHOUT a coat of mail separating the two?

I apologise if I am doing nothing more than ploughing up old ground here.

Crispvs