Attempts to pinpoint the adoption of lorica segmentate by the Roman army have not, as yet, met with much success. These have included the Roman defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC and the revolt of Florus and Sacrovir in AD 21.(7) We now know that the Kalkriese form of the cuirass was in use as early as 9 BC, possibly by legio XIX,(8) and that it was present amongst legiones XVII, XVIII, and XIX when they were defeated in the teutoburgerwald debacle in AD 9, so it had clearly been adopted well before AD 21 (Fig.10.1). It is a type of armour provides defence against downward blows with long swords, a style of combat favoured by various Iron Age European peoples, so any notion that it was invented to counter the perceived superiority of Parthian archery in the east seems unlikely.
7. Carrhae: BRIZZI, 1981, 198; Florus and Sacrovir: BISHOP & COULSTON, 1993, 85
8. As indicated by finds from Dangstetten (BISHOP, 1998, 12)
G. Brizzi, ‘L’armamento legionario e le guerre partiche’, Critica Storica 19, 177-201
M.C. Bishop & J.C. Coulston, Roman Military Equipment from the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome, London
M.C. Bishop, ‘The development of “lorica semgentata”: recent advances and old work re-assessed, Arma 10, 10-14
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