Mail during the empire

[Daniel S Peterson]

As for relative cost between mail and segmentatae, I believe we can realistically state that mail, even riveted was probably cheaper in Roman times. This is based on the relative costs for both types of armor as hand made in India from my observations there. While a segmentata is a bit cheaper, it is made from prepared steel plate, reducing the work by half. Also, in Indian riveted mail, every ring is riveted. In Roman usually only half the rings are, also considerably reducing the labor. The manufacture of Lorica segmentatae also requires more skilled laborers. Every step of Indian mail making is done by Moslem women as a "at home" industry, and similarly could have been done in Roman times with female slaves, which would have been the cheapest work force. These aobservations are based on typical 8 - 10 mm rings. Much finer mail would have been more time consuming, and probably more typical of privately owned mail cuirases of wealthier/higher ranking men.<br>
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Dan<br>
Dan <p></p><i></i>