Optio equipment

[mcbishop]

I was just promoted to the rank of Optio Centuriae and was wondering what kind of equipment an optio would wear and carry.

I know that some of the defining features of an optio was the front-to-back crest, and feathers on either side. He also carried a hastile to keep the men in line during battle.

I'm afraid that is just modern supposition which appears to have morphed into a factoid. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no evidence that optiones habitually wore crests of the kind you describe (although it sounds awfully like the Ermine Street Guard's optio).

I am asking would he wear a segmentata, squamata, hamata, would he wear greaves/greave, would his subarmalis have ptergis. Would he have torc/torcs or even armillae? Is their any historical evidence out there?

In short, not really. The level of detail you are seeking just does not survive in either the iconographic or documentary records. Sorry, but that's the nature of the beast.

Mike Bishop