Roman Armour

jamesn_13 · Post by **jamesn_13** » Sun Apr 14, 2002 7:01 am

What kind of armour was worn by soldiers in the time of julius caesar?

CLANG · Post by **CLANG** » Sun Apr 14, 2002 2:14 pm

The primary legionary armor of Caesar's time was the lorica hamata. It was a mail shirt with a reinforced doubling over the shoulders which was usually edged in leather. The helmet was usually bronze at this time-I think iron was in use, but only on a very limited basis. Shields were large, curved-section rectangles. Legionary officers sometimes wore iron or bronze greaves and body armor of scale (lorica squamata) or occasionally a solid, shaped breastplate sculpted to the body (lorica musculata).

The iron lorica segmentata body armor and large use of iron helmets did not occur until the 1st C AD, about 50 years after Caesar's demise.

Do a seb search for Legio XX. They have a great Roman reenactment site and the editor, Matt Amt is a great and really helpful guy.

Galileo · Post by **Galileo** » Sun Apr 14, 2002 6:30 pm

I'll save ya the trouble of doing the search.

Legio XX Lorica Hamata page

G--