Late roman officer and Lorica Musculata!

[Nathan Ross]

this would imply that the emperors and senior officers wore the same body-protection as an ordinary soldier and moreover, they wanted this to be shown in official monuments. it is possible, but I find it hard to believe.

But that's exactly what we see on the arch of Constantine. The 'siege of Verona' frieze shows an officer or general (quite possible Constantine himself) standing beside a file of front-line infantry soldiers, and wearing exactly the same musculata as the troops:

[img size=800x349]http://www.rome101.com/Topics/ArchConstantine/Story/pix/15StoryS_1_L.jpg[/img]

As I've argued before, the level and particularity of detail on these friezes suggests that they were inspired by life, rather than archetype or the sculptor's imagination. The people of Rome would have had a good look at Constantine's army only a couple of years before, when they marched into the city after Milvian Bridge.

The scenes on these sarcophagi are usually generic; generalized battles are depicted in which probably only the head of the deceased is a realm portait. They have very little to do with the realty of the battlefield.

I agree that the more famous 'Grande' Ludovisi sarcophagus has a lot of what might be called 'rhetorical' flourishes. But there are odd details here too - like the eagle-headed helmets, similar to examples found in archeology - that I think mean we should be wary of just dismissing it all as a flight of fancy.

There is another Ludovisi sarcophagus, less well known - the only online picture of it I can find is the cover of Lee's War in Late Antiquity - which shows soldiers in musculata in what I take to be a far more realistic way. The armour here resembles very closely that seen on the Constantine Arch, the Theodosius Column and certain Danubian grave stelae: