Roman Equipment Modifications in the Desert

[Renicus Ferrarius]

I've seen a few movies in which the Romans were in desert territory, but they always wear the same uniform:


and it leaves me wondering how soldiers in places like Egypt and North Africa didn't cook in their armor.

Does anyone have any pictures or good descriptions of how the Romans modified their armor and equipment for the desert? I've been wondering if they wrapped their helmets in turbans like the Saracens:


or wore outer robes like the bedouin.

Thanks in advance.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I think it mentions in josephus about coverings for their armour.
I could be mistaken though.

[Albertomv]

I only remember reading about the use of hamata and squamata instead of segmentata

[Boudicca Iceni]

I have heard that preferring the lorica Hamata instead of the lorica segmentata could be a logistic matter. The lorica hamata can be made smaller for transport. But of course that are just speculations, and I don’t know if anything is true in that.

For as far as I know there still exist an administrational papyrus rolls about the legions who were station aside in Alexandria.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

I am not aware of any evidence of modifications to equipment for desert conditions. On the other hand, there were parts of loricae segmnentata found in Palestine the context of the Jewish War of 66-73 C.E.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

It's not that they didn't use segmentata, it's that the army was supplied by rpivate manufactiories in this period and those manufactiories continued making what they knew how to make. Chainmail, which had been made in gaul for centuries, would probably be more common than sgementata there. Likewise, squamata, which scale armor had been made in the east since the bronze age, would be more common there because that's what they knew how to make.

[Quintius Clavus]

Someone like Saladin putting a turban around his helmet is much more likely a fashion-cultural thing, that has a perceived side benefit (to our eyes). Josephus' comment about removing covers - for the pay parade outside Jerusalem - may have meant removing the covers from shields, not necessarily from armor while worn. Of course, a cover over armor may have meant throwing a linen tunic over it; enough to protect from direct sunlight heating, but not heavy to add to weight.

The interesting thing about deserts is that while they may get hot during the day, they can also get quite cold at night. Having camped in the Arizona desert in February - believe me having a heater was a good thing for at night, even while day time temperatures were relatively warm.

Staying well watered was and is key to dealing with desert conditions. The Romans suffered less if they had adequate water. Sweating is what keeps one cool during the hot day regardless of what armor is being worn. The extremely low humidity of the desert makes that water supply critical.

As noted above, in an earlier post, finds that belong to the lorica segmentata in Jewish War contexts indicates the armor was worn in the East. We know from the Tropaeum Traiani (spelling??) that mail and scale were worn by legionaries along the Danube and in Dacia (no laminated plate armor on that monument). Roman soldiers, legionaries, may have had preferences for armor types that would not be entirely attributable to "rational" reasons.

[M. Demetrius]

a cover over armor may have meant throwing a linen tunic over it; enough to protect from direct sunlight heating

Medieval knights did this, but that's not necessarily a proof that Romans did. ANYthing that keeps the direct sunlight off of metal armor would be a great help in keeping the body inside it cooler.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I think it is clearly stated in Josephus. Something was worn over their armour. I need to dig this out and read it again. :-|
Some people have interpreted it as leather covers, but as mentioned, a light fabric would seem more logical. I doubt the hundreds of years of contact wit hthe east would not have gone without picking up some of the eastern habits. They certainly adapted from every other culture.
I think the Greeks mention as far back as the Persian wars th armour covered with fabrics robes etc....?
Those light looking tunics covering something on some monuments?

[A_Volpe]

Considering the Egyptian area was heavily Ptomlemaic Greek, it's likely the Romans stationed there could have adopted more of that flavor of fashion, and probably not as likely to take on 'Persian' fashions, not until the 4th century onwards, I'd imagine, but of course that's more theory than anything.

There seems to be supportive evidence from tombstones that there were 'Regional' styles, the Germanic area Legions appear to wear tunics a little differently than in other areas ~ there is the inference during the Year of the Four Emperors where Vitellius' troops were not recognized by Romans in Rome as "Romans" because of their "barbaric" appearance. And we know from the Fayum portraiture that there was indeed a heavy Greek influence in style, beard and all, of people who have been identified as Romans in Egypt.

It could also be the soldiers in Egypt did not wear much armor at all unless they were under a specific situation - I think that's in place in a general sense with Legions across the board, we don't seem to have any evidence that suggests Romans wearing armor much at all outside of actual battle, but even things like the Mainz reliefs appear to show a soldier not in body armor (although I often suspect it could be a fabric armor but we'll probably never know for sure)

I think we modern reenactors tend to wear our armor for far longer / more often than the Romans might have. But the vast majority of us don't get to wear the armor 'every day' as the Romans may have done in the 1st century (going by Vegetius with the idea Romans trained twice a day), so when we finally get our chance to wear awesome armor during the weekend, a number of us are happy to wear that -all day- when it's possible real Romans may not have, or not every day. Part of my theory on that is going from late Medieval and Renaissance: Soldiers did not appear to wear a lot of armor, and when they did, they only seem to be wearing it when directly in battle (or in some cases marching somewhere), seeing as they wore as much, and sometimes more, armor than Romans did for much of their existence, I'm less inclined to believe wearing armor all day every day. I could certainly be wrong, (if I did wear it every day maybe it won't be such a big deal to get use to its weight and being cumbersome ?) but as with everything Roman, there is an awful lot of gray area ~ and again, evidence seems to support Regional styles, and of course fashion/styles change over the years.

I'd certainly be interested to hear more about the Legions in the desert region, whatever comes up.

[Dan Howard]

Climate doesn't seem to have any bearing on the type of armour chosen by any soldier. We know that people have been wearing heavy types of armour in the the Middle East for thousands of years. There are plenty of people in Australia and the southern states of the US who have no trouble wearing heavy armour - full plate harnesses, mail hauberks, scale sariams, etc - all day in summer. It doesn't take long to acclimatise. Helmets can be a bother but not the armour itself. Segmentata isn't particularly cumbersome or stifling anyway. Compared to some types of armour it is like wearing a T-shirt. A light surcoat over the top to keep direct sunlight off the metal might be a good idea but it isn't crucial. It all depends on what you are used to. Personally, 5-10 deg C bothers me a lot more than 35-40 deg C. As long as I have water to drink I can work/exercise all day in the sun during the Australian summer.

[almoral]

One modification in Egypt (if not the desert) is that the Alexandrian and Syrian fleets wore white tunics as opposed to other colors, and writers commented on this as unusual.

In addition, the Ptolomeic army used white shields and white tunics as their "national color." They also seemed to prefer the linothorax for their body armor.

It would not suprise me to find Romans favoring white cloth tunics and making white the background color of their shields. Units that patroled the Saharan and Arab deserts probably used the linothorax as well.

[Graham Sumner]

Al Morales wrote:

One modification in Egypt (if not the desert) is that the Alexandrian and Syrian fleets wore white tunics as opposed to other colors, and writers commented on this as unusual.


Hello Al
I would be very interested to hear the sources for these statements if you have them.

There were detachments of Dromedarii based in Egypt but sadly we have no pictorial representations. It would be nice to know if they looked like their Palmyrene cousins.

There are documents from Egypt such as BGU VII 1574 which record the order of white wool tunics, cloaks and blankets for the army.

Other than these, I know of no modifications to kit to make allowances for the desert. The few tombstones from Egypt that I have seen, in particular a couple of third century ones show kit similar to elsewhere. One even has yellow brown colour surviving on the cloak which again has many parallels elsewhere.

I am fairly sure that soldiers did modify their kit to suit the local climate. However apart from the widespread introduction of longer sleeved tunics and trousers in the late second and early third century which although following native styles do not appear to have been decorated to any great degree in any native style, there is little evidence visually or archaeologically for Roman soldiers going 'native' anywhere.

Nonetheless there are a few literary references to some senior officers wearing local dress including both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony and this was used by writers such as Cicero to verbally attack them for their loose morals. The savage dress of soldiers returning to Rome on a couple of occasions has also been commented on. It is just a pity that the writers and artists do not go into any great detail.

Stephen.

Roman soldiers in movies usually wear armour at all times and on all occasions. It is just so the audience knows that they are Roman soldiers. At most times they would wear just their boots and belts, tunic and cloak, indoors too.

Graham.

[john m roberts]

It would be good encouragement to keep one's armor at a high polish thus reflecting sunlight away from the body. I've worn my Imperial Gallic C helmet all day in the New Mexico sun without discomfort, and it's padded with sheepskin. I remember reading when the first "Star Wars" (1977) movie came out, that during filming in North Africa, when everybody else was dropping from the heat, the actor playing C-3PO was freezing because his gold-plated costume reflected the sunlight.

I believe that in a hot, muggy, high-humidity environment it would be much more uncomfortable to wear armor than in a dry, desert climate.

[A_Volpe]

I'm not trying to say Romans in the desert regions were not wearing armor due to the hot climate. I've worn my armor in blazing heat and have done OK.

When I said Romans may not have worn their armor as often as we tend to do now was referring to general use across the board, not specifically the desert. We just don't have anything (that I'm aware of) that says Romans wore their armor all day ~ Again, it appears from the limited sculptural survivors that Romans seemed to wear their armor specifically when going into battle, otherwise they're "seen" in their tunics, belts and cloaks (tombstones).

I agree with the assessment that Romans very likely kept their armor clean and rust-free as best they could, not just for the aesthetic of looking awesome and intimidating, but also to just keep the armor up to good condition, rust = damage. Although I don't think a -high mirror polish- is not critical, but that's my particular conclusion.