05-01-2014, 03:39 PM
A notice to Evan (and to all who would doubt, for that matter),
The Romans not only had leather cuirasses, they practically ONLY had leather armor! In fact, what you all don't realize is that the remains of metallic armor are just an aberration...a fluke! Any true Roman who could see modern reenactors marching around in their shining plate armor would laugh himself silly at the thought that men entering battle wouldn't want to be attired in the best Italian leather money can buy!! I mean honestly, who wouldn't want a Gucci musculata?!? For God's sake man - just look at the infamous "bend"!!
Alright, I've laid the bait....any takers?? :evil:
In all honesty, although I am a hardcore anti-leather guy for armor proper, I do believe the Romans used it for backing and in their subarmalis construction. There, we have some evidence (squamata backing from Dura), there, we have some logical progression (I remember Travis Clarke arguing that the Roman panoply with muscled cuirass originates from Greek tradition, i.e. the Greek muscled cuirass and tube and yoke) of the Greeks using leather for ptyruges (if you accept the spolas=leather argument). But full cuirasses of leather, even boiled leather, for the Romans is just pure Hollywood fantasy based on modern views of what the past should look like.
The Romans not only had leather cuirasses, they practically ONLY had leather armor! In fact, what you all don't realize is that the remains of metallic armor are just an aberration...a fluke! Any true Roman who could see modern reenactors marching around in their shining plate armor would laugh himself silly at the thought that men entering battle wouldn't want to be attired in the best Italian leather money can buy!! I mean honestly, who wouldn't want a Gucci musculata?!? For God's sake man - just look at the infamous "bend"!!
Alright, I've laid the bait....any takers?? :evil:
In all honesty, although I am a hardcore anti-leather guy for armor proper, I do believe the Romans used it for backing and in their subarmalis construction. There, we have some evidence (squamata backing from Dura), there, we have some logical progression (I remember Travis Clarke arguing that the Roman panoply with muscled cuirass originates from Greek tradition, i.e. the Greek muscled cuirass and tube and yoke) of the Greeks using leather for ptyruges (if you accept the spolas=leather argument). But full cuirasses of leather, even boiled leather, for the Romans is just pure Hollywood fantasy based on modern views of what the past should look like.
Alexander
