Roman Imperial Armour

The production of early imperial military armour

David Sim, J. Kaminski, J. Kaminski

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781842177020
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Roman Ancient History
• Index: History

The Roman Empire depended on the power of its armies to defend and extend the imperial borders, enabling it to dominate much of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Success was, in large part, founded on well-trained, well-disciplined soldiers who were equipped with the most advanced arms and armour available at that time. This is the story of the production of that armour. Roman Imperial Armour presents an examination of the metals the armour was made from, of how the ores containing those metals were extracted from the earth and transformed into workable metal and of how that raw product was made into the armour of the Roman army. The policing and protecting of such a huge empire required a large and well-organised force and the book goes on to consider the organisation of the army, its size, composition, the logistics involved in its deployment and provisioning and the training, remuneration and benefits offered to its men at arms.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• 1 The Evidence
• 2 Iron Production
• 3 Blacksmithing Techniques and Production Methods
• 4 The Production of Sheet Metal
• 5 Iron and Steel
• 6 Surface Treatment of Roman Armour
• 7 Helmets (galea or cassis)
• 8 Scale Armour (lorica squamata)
• 9 Ring Mail (lorica hamata)
• 10 Segmented Body Armour (lorica segmentata)
• 11 Leg and Arm Armour
• 12 The Shield and Boss (umbo)
• 13 Conclusions
• Appendix 1: The Survival of Ancient Machines
• Appendix 2: One-sided Carburization
• Glossary
• Latin terms
• Bibliography
• Plates