Roman Body Armor :: essays research papers

During the expansion of Rome and the acquisition of new territory, the papistical armies were often met by heavy resistance and bloody conflicts. The armies needed a type of protection that would safely protect soldiers and would ensure victory for Rome.That is the mind fit out (upper body) in particular was implemented to save soldiers on the battlefield. The equip had to meet certain standards of construction for it to be useful Of these standards the first was that equip was to be flexible enough to allow the wearer freedom of movement in battle. Secondly, it had to be lightweight it could be worn without wearing down the soldier, opus still protecting him against an opponents weapon and finally, the armor had to be made at low cost. These three aspects were influential in the evolution of armour concept in the roman letters army. The main study point ofRoman armour is that it was a trade off between freedom of movement, protection, and cost factor. In the first century A .D. there were about four types of armour in use. The names of the different types were muscle, scale, mail, and segmented mail and the segmented breastplate world the leading type. Studying of these armour types relies upon three main sources of cause iconographic archaeologic and literary source documents.The evolution of Roman armour was influenced by the need and circumstances of the Roman Army. Armies of the first century A.D. were finally established inwardly theEmpire and control fell solely under the Emperor. With the increase of soldiers in theRoman army, which was up to around thirty legions, well built armour was more in need than ever on the frontiers. The army could be divided into two distinct parts the legion and the auxiliary. Only Roman citizens could become a legionnaire, while the auxiliary were made of non citizens from Romes settled territories. The proterozoic view put forward by a historian named Webster was that the equipment utilize by the legionnaire s was remarkably uniform throughout the empire. However, there has been no evidence that supports this theory, showing that a great number of types and ages of equipment was in use at anyone time. Peterson argues that uniform armour in the Roman army may bemuse only extended to the soldiers having their own body armour, helmet, weapons and shield showing a common trademark. Bishop and Coulston suggest that in this period soldiers purchased their own equipment.