segmentata

[Tarbicus]

I think that not the whole Roman army dressed the lorica segmentata, only the first lines of shock with the most trained and burly men would meet reinforced by this type of armor.

The problem there is that it assumes the same men were always in the very front line, which would surely be highly unlikely.

There is another theory about the segmentata voiced by Lendon, and that is it was developed more for siege types of warfare, going hand in hand with the ever increasing helmet neckguard sizes to help protect from missiles from above. Whilst the legionaries took more of a step back from field combat they increasingly stepped up to the ladders instead, leaving open combat more to the auxilia.

Personally, I feel the seg was a more efficient and cheaper way of equipping the army that had its own benefits in terms of production, tied in with new technologies in making plate armour that brought it to the same standard as mail. Augustus was very watchful of spending, and if a way of saving money in the army presented itself I'm sure he would have promoted its use. I still don't accept the argument that it was harder to repair than mail, as plates are easily replaced so long as you have some method of rivetting new ones into place. The amount of repaired finds show that repairs were frequent. In the field, likewise, with the baggage train having the necessary stocks of plates, just like any other pieces necessary for field repairs. The asymmetrically different pieces on segs could also indicate that. Given that the plate thicknesses and weight distribution of a modern seg are all wrong, the lighter armour may have been very popular with soldiers, especially if it gave the same protection as mail (see the latest findings on the composition of plate armour of the time).

My feelings about the reason that mail eventually superceded plate in the legions is the legions were a completely different animal by that time, composed almost entirely of auxiliary blood (but citizen in title), bringing with them their own practices and preferences.