Length of late roman mail

[Nathan Ross]

How long would this 4th-5th century mail really be?

It's difficult to tell how long surviving Roman mail shirts might have been - the one from the Dura siege mine (c.A250) was pulled up around the chest of the corpse, but according the Simon James might have reached the top of the thigh. However, it was also likely Persian. Another complete shirt from Dura and one from South Shields (c.AD300) were found folded or heaped, and accurate length measurement would be impossible.

However, some later Roman art does show quite long mail and scale armour. This one comes from Rome, probably c.AD303:

   

And this is from about the same date, from the Arch of Galerius; scale rather than mail, but the length might have been about the same: