Illustrations of Sassanid Persian Clibanarii

[Renatus]

I can wear this stuff all day in the middle of an Australian summer so long as my head is ventillated and I stay hydrated. It is possible that your helmet was causing the problem and not your armour. If I wear an enclosed helmet then I have trouble with overheating even in winter so it can't be the climate. I have experimented with wearing an enclosed helmet and regular clothing and still have trouble with overheating if I wear it for too long so it can't be the armour.

So, on this basis our so-called 'oven-men' could cope pretty well as long as they donned their helmets only for the time that they were in actual combat. This is interesting in relation to Aurelian's tactics at Immae, when the Roman cavalry gave the Palmyrene cataphracts the run-around until they collapsed from heat exhaustion.