04-01-2007, 04:58 AM
"Keep in mind, if I was wearing subarmalis (sub-armor) made from 1/4 to 1/2 inch wool felt or several layers of linen, over a wool tunic, and had this 1/2 inch water hardened leather cuirass on top... I still might not call it 'armor' but, the myth that leather can not protect you in battle is simply not true. "
My god, that's one heavy, thick subarmalis. I'd hate to use that in any kind of weather above 5 degrees celcius...you'd be overheating everytime you went on a simple route march. As Dan mentioned, no-one is debating that leather can't protect you, but for a high ranking officer to wear simple hide when they had the best assets to procure a metal cuirass of the finest quality...doesn't make sense.
"Lastly, I wrote up a short essay on the possibility that Roman Officers wore chain maile under their leather cuirass when in battle. The logic being... infantry wore chain maile, the Centurions would wear maile but placed decorated leather straps over it, so then... logically, an officer would wear maile and place his leather muscle armor over it as well."
First, roman emperor's didn't lead their troops into battle. They commanded from behind the front lines, and let their centurions do the dirty work. Thus there isn't a lot of need for such a doubling of armour. You're also ruling out the fact that infantry also wore steel/iron plate segmentata, centurions probably as well, not to mention centurions wearing squamata or scale maille.
There is no logic to emperor's wearing leather musculata. It's a sign of wealth as well, and leather is pretty cheap in comparison to the work needed to make a top-end breast and back plate out of bronze/brass, and then probably silvered, not to mention all of the decorations that went over it.
The reason you don't see emperor's with a helmet on, is the same reason Tom Cruise wasn't given one in The Last Samurai. He's the celebrity, and people want to be able to identify him readily because of that status.
My god, that's one heavy, thick subarmalis. I'd hate to use that in any kind of weather above 5 degrees celcius...you'd be overheating everytime you went on a simple route march. As Dan mentioned, no-one is debating that leather can't protect you, but for a high ranking officer to wear simple hide when they had the best assets to procure a metal cuirass of the finest quality...doesn't make sense.
"Lastly, I wrote up a short essay on the possibility that Roman Officers wore chain maile under their leather cuirass when in battle. The logic being... infantry wore chain maile, the Centurions would wear maile but placed decorated leather straps over it, so then... logically, an officer would wear maile and place his leather muscle armor over it as well."
First, roman emperor's didn't lead their troops into battle. They commanded from behind the front lines, and let their centurions do the dirty work. Thus there isn't a lot of need for such a doubling of armour. You're also ruling out the fact that infantry also wore steel/iron plate segmentata, centurions probably as well, not to mention centurions wearing squamata or scale maille.
There is no logic to emperor's wearing leather musculata. It's a sign of wealth as well, and leather is pretty cheap in comparison to the work needed to make a top-end breast and back plate out of bronze/brass, and then probably silvered, not to mention all of the decorations that went over it.
The reason you don't see emperor's with a helmet on, is the same reason Tom Cruise wasn't given one in The Last Samurai. He's the celebrity, and people want to be able to identify him readily because of that status.
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Magnus/Matt
Du Courage Viens La Verité
Legion: TBD
Magnus/Matt
Du Courage Viens La Verité
Legion: TBD
