VEMBRACES

[Gaius Colletti]

The manica was used by a small number of soldiers for a very short period of time. It doesn't tell us anything particularly insightful since we don't know which soldiers it was issued, which weapon it was intended to defend against, or why it wasn't used more widely.

I really didn't want to continue this thread, but I must object. Manica were used from at the very least AD21-106 (and if I recall correctly, through at least AD150) and we have several examples of manica from several parts of the Empire. If I recall correctly the crupellarius had an excellent defense against everything the Roman's tried against it, and it was effective enough to use against the "dreaded" Dacian falx. So we know of at least two weapons it worked well against, and like segmentata (because it really is segmentata) I would assume it would provide a moderate defense against blunt trauma.