An LS question

[russia almighty]

Before you summon the lynch mob, and or impalement mob, I'm not asking about it being in EB II. My question is, was LS a one of a kind armor? Or has armor with large segments like it, been used in other time period, and other parts of the world? Before you say anything else, I do realize llamelar in some ways is like the stuff (especially those arm guards Parthian cataphracts have).

[antisocialmunky]

I dunno what you're asking exactly. The sort of overlapping pieces of small plate was done in the early middle ages in Europe because Metal Smithing wasn't able to create massive plates of the later periods. So things like the 'coat of plates' which was several pieces of small overlapping plates attached to the inside part of a jacket like thing were made.

[Megas Methuselah]

@RA:

IIRC, someone on these forums said the Romans, being Romans, copied the eastern lamellar armour (such as those arm guards you mentioned), and made the LS out of that idea.

[oudysseos]

Armour with large segments was definitely not unique to the lorica segmentata, as the Dendra Panoply shows: this does not mean that the Romans didn't come up with it on their own. They didn't even know about the Dendra suit, as it has been dated to 15th century BCE. Here are some pics



A possible clue is that 'segmentata' is not what the Romans called it at all: they may have called it lorica laminata, but it was latin-speaking scholars studying Trajans Column in the 16th century who named it 'segmentata'.

[Ludens]

Armour with large segments was definitely not unique to the lorica segmentata, as the Dendra Panoply shows: this does not mean that the Romans didn't come up with it on their own. They didn't even know about the Dendra suit, as it has been dated to 15th century BCE.

I am not sure if the Dendra Panoply is a good example. AFAIK this is the only armour of this type ever to be found, and nobody knows what it was used for (too heavy to make good infantry armour, and an outright danger on a wobbly chariot).

[antisocialmunky]

The helmet isn't all that particularly great. That thing is either ceremonial, art, or for some sort of chariot bourne infantry.

[MeinPanzer]

I am not sure if the Dendra Panoply is a good example. AFAIK this is the only armour of this type ever to be found, and nobody knows what it was used for (too heavy to make good infantry armour, and an outright danger on a wobbly chariot).

Actually, it is almost certain that such panoplies were borne by charioteers. What evidence do you have that Mycenaean chariots were "wobbly"? The Chinese employed a similarly heavy panoply on their charioteers for several centuries.

Other smaller parts of this type of panoply have been found over the years, but a complete panoply like the famous Dendra example has never been found elsewhere.

The helmet isn't all that particularly great. That thing is either ceremonial, art, or for some sort of chariot bourne infantry.

The helmet is composed of boar tusks, which was the norm for Mycenaean helmets and seems to have been fairly effective for bronze age warfare. Fully metal helmets don't appear until the end of the bronze age.

[russia almighty]

oudysseos, I always wonder how someone got into that tank.


Anyway, this has provided new insight for me about that particular Roman armor. Would a mod close this?