armor of pearls?

[Lucius Rabirius]

I found one strange part in Plinius, nat. hist. about one british armor made of pearls. I can´t imagine how it could look. Are there any other examples of this thing. It was captured in Britannia 55/54 from Caesar and dedicated to Forum Iulium.

Here the part of Plinius, nat. hist. IX, 116:

"In Britannia parvos atque decolores nasci certum est,
quoniam Divus Iulius thoricem, quem Veneri Genetrici in
templo eius dedicavit, ex Britannicis margaritis factum
voluerit intellegi."

I translated it, sorry for eventually mistakes:

"It is sure, that in Britannia only small and
bad colored (pearls) exist, because the divine Iulius
wanted explicit to make aware of one breastplate,
that it is made of pearls of Britannia."

Thank you, kindly regards

[Caballo]

A musculata with the decorations/ appliques set with pearls?

[Lucius Rabirius]

Maybe, but i don´t know and i can´t say or imagine how it was. It should be used as a trophaeum in forum Iulium, so It should be a british armor. I don´t know where the pearls are on this, maybe someone has suggestions about the looking of this armor or knows some parallels. I´m curious to know...

[john m roberts]

I believe Caesar wanted to make the pearl "breastplate" for the statue of Venus Genetrix, the patroness of his family. In this case I suspect that it would have had the form of the aegis, which is sometimes translated as "breastplate." It would have been in the form of a cloak, as the aegis is shown when worn by Athena.

[M. Demetrius]

Sure would take a lot of pearls, for basically very limited protection.