Segmentata mail hybrid

[Caratacus]

The other type of "compound armour" is the one displayed on a statue from Alba Iulia in Romania. This one is much less open to 'interpretation' than the Arlon offering. It's quite clear that the lorica segmentata has been modified in several ways. For instance, there are far fewer girdle plates, seemingly only 3. This would make them at least twice as deep as the 'regular' armour. It is also clear that there is some sort of scale armour on the shoulders. Up till now there have been no actual discoveries of such armour. However, I gather that there is some possibility that armour found at Leon in Spain comparatively recently may have included a suit of the Alba Iulia modifications. This has not been published as yet and (in the way of such things) it may take several years to get into print. It's only recently that the "sliding rivet" back plate from Gamala has been published, and that was unearthed some considerable time ago.

I would say that the main importance of the Alba Iulia statue is that it indicates that the Romans did occasionally (at least) use non-standard equipment.

I've added a recent picture of the Alba Iulia statue here.

Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)