03-14-2006, 06:00 PM
I think Dan has a point insomuch as the armour padding which we call a subarmalis was perhaps not used from the very beginning. A superheavy tunic might as well have done the job - at least it was certainly better than nothing. When I look at the Roman soldiers on the Aemilius Paullus monument, they look rather slim - perhaps the padding under their mail armour was not too heavy? (on the other hand, sculptures should not be overinterpreted)
The problem is, and here I'm coming back to the first pages of this über-informative thread, the anonymous peri strategias (6th century) does mention special padding vests and writes they were once more frequently used. So we cannot say that the 'a strong tunic was enough' theory was valid all the time.
And of course the armour padding is very likely to have undergone developments - just like plate, mail or scale armour changed in time - but we simply know next to nothing about this.
The old problem :roll:
The problem is, and here I'm coming back to the first pages of this über-informative thread, the anonymous peri strategias (6th century) does mention special padding vests and writes they were once more frequently used. So we cannot say that the 'a strong tunic was enough' theory was valid all the time.
And of course the armour padding is very likely to have undergone developments - just like plate, mail or scale armour changed in time - but we simply know next to nothing about this.
The old problem :roll:
Florian Himmler (not related!)
