With the end of the civil wars which left Augustus as the undisputed ruler of the Roman world, the legionary began taking on a different appearance. Though the Montefortino was still by far the most common helmet, improved versions appeared with a larger neck guard and brow reinforcement. The ‘Coolus’ helmets of Gallic origin also took on these improvements, and the first iron Coolus and ‘Imperial Gallic' helmets, obviously produced in Roman workshops, began to appear. The scutum of Augustan date was ‘clipped’ of its top and bottom, reducing its weight. This modification has often been attributed to Augustan-period campaigns in the forests of Germany; but in fact the ‘clipped’ scutum may have existed since the time of Marius, when legionaries were first required to carry their full equipment on the march (not di. scounting the mid-lst century BC Ahenobarbus frieze, which indicates that some legionaries still carried the full-size scutum at this time).
Perhaps the most dramatic change in the appearance of the Roman soldier up to this date was the introduction of the laminated plate cuirass, known today as lorica segmentata, at about the end of the first quarter of the 1st century AD. It has been suggested that this armour may have been produced quickly to equip newly-raised legions to replace the three lost in the Teutoburg Forest disaster. This is probably unlikely when we remember that only a few decades earlier Augustus disbanded some 30 legions, meaning that tens of thousands of surplus mail shirts were probably gathering dust in various Imperial armouries across the Roman world. It is more likely that the laminated cuirass was invented as a superior replacement for mail by skilled Gallic armourers in the Rhineland workshops which also produced the excellent ‘Imperial Gallic’ helmets of the same period.
This armour has been suggested by some as specifically the cuirass of ‘Western’ legions, while those in the East wore loricae of mail or scale. This was partially substantiated by the depiction of scale - and mail-clad legionaries on the Adamklissi monument. However, a recent discovery in Israel (in which this writer participated) has proven that loricae segmentatae similar, if not identical to those found in the famous Corbridge horde were used by the ‘Eastern’ legions in 68 AD during the Jewi. sh Revolt. This distribution of an armour type whose origins are probably western European to the far-flung comers of the Roman Empire suggests a more sophisticated and uniform system of equipment supply than is usually credited.
5 A simpler version of the laminated cuirass was found at
Opposite; Manning a rampart under a lowering northern sky. a member of Legio Xllll in the 'classic' legionary equipment of the mid - to late 1st century AD. He wears the Imperial Gallic 'D' helmet, the original of which was appropriately found in the Rhine at Mainz where Legio Xllll was stationed. The body armour is the Corbridge 'A' laminated cuirass, so named from the site in northern England where a chest containing a quantity of this type of armour was found. Probably manufactured in the Rhineland, this armour saw use throughout the Roman Empire; and this author first identified fragments of a shoulder unit while participating in the excavation of Gamala, a Jewish stronghold besieged by Vespasian in 67 AD. The scutum is shown in its final, rectangular form, its dimensions taken from a much later 3rd century example from Dura Europos, Syria. There is some evidence to indicate that elements of decoration, like the lightning bolts and cartouche or tabula ansata. may have been executed in light metal instead of paint: extensive use of metal decoration can be seen on the 1st century AD Doncaster shield (though this is thought to be auxiliary rather than legionary).
Left: The rear view of the legionary is rarely seen in sculpture or art. "The upper chest of the Corbridge-lype lorica segmentata is protected by single left and right plates; but the upper back is covered by three sets of overlapping lames. (Later sculptural representations seem to indicate similar lames on the chest.) The author has noted two major European museums in which this type of armour is displayed back to front through confusion over this point.
Ncwstcad in Scotland and now seems to be dated to the end of the 2nd century AD. Legionary helmets of the 2nd century remained similar to those of the first, hut are characterised by reinforcement bars across the skull, a feature thought to have been introduced during the Dacian Wars - possibly in response to the large, two-handed sickle-like sword used by these peoples.
By the 3rd century AD the laminated cuirass seems to have fallen into disu. se, replaced by scale and mail shirts which now lacked the distinctive shoulder doublings of the earlier period. It seems clear that the laminated cuirasses of the 1st and 2nd centuries never entirely superceded mail and scale armours, and it is likely that these different armours could have been used simultaneously in the same unit. Helmets became deeper, and with more pronounced sloping neck guards during the 3rd century; and the distinction between cavalry and infantry models may have disappeared. The longer spatha sword. seems to have gained prominence in the infantry, though it still had not completely replaced the ghidius. Swords, however, were by now always worn on the left hip rather than on the right as in earlier times, and suspended by a wide baldric.
The familiar tile-shaped scutum of the legions was still in use during the middle of the century, as evidenced by the finds at Dura Europos, Syria, but did not survive the century. The classic pilum seems to have given way to defensive thrusting spears and various javelins and ‘darts’.
The 4th century Roman soldier presented a radical change from the vaguely similar types of the preceding three centuries. Most distinct was the adoption of a completely different helmet of western Asian origin, generally composed of a two-piece skull Joined by a central ridge. These ‘ridge helmets’ were far cheaper and easier to manufacture than any previous form, and 20 were probably the only practical. solution to the problem of arming the large new field armies of the period out of the severely depleted resources of the late Empire. The use of body armour in the infantry. seems to have diminished, with the relatively greater importance of cavalry in the mobile amiies, though some units were certainly still. so equipped, principle types still being scale and mail. Some evidence suggests that molded rawhide cuirasses may also have been a common armour, though their appearance in period art may only reflect the persistent Roman tendency to ‘Hellenise’ armour, as in the case of the Greek Attic-like corruptions of Imperial Gallic or Italic helmets on Trajan’s Column and other monuments. Shields were now universally round or oval. and very probably dished.
The Notitia Digniiaium of the very early 5th century indicates that some of the old ‘legions’ were still on the rolls, though by now their organisation would have changed considerably. Field army legiones numbered between 1,(KK) and 1,200 men, and no longer had integral artillery or cavalry. Exact organisation is unknown, though there seem to have been six 180 or 200 - man onlines, each divided into two ceniuriae.
The nature and character of the army had by now changed out of all recognition from that of the early Principate. Mobile field forces containing large numbers of semi-civilised mercenary allies manoeuvred across the Empire, fighting against constant barbarian incursions - and often, each other. Frontier garrisons were largely composed of locally recruited militia. By the fall of the Western Empire in c.410 AD a century and a half of rival generals stripping their provinces to pursue bids for the throne, and of administration dislocated by civil war, had destoyed the co-ordinated Empire-wide organisation which made the old regular legionary army such a marvellously impressive instrument.
The lorka segmeniala can be taken off and put on by an unaided man. like a jacket, once the thongs linking the front fastenings of the girdle plates arc untied; but it is quicker and easier if two comrades help one another. This also puts less stress on the straps, hinges and buckles, which are surprisingly fragile.
The girdle and shoulder plates are held in flexible, overlapping articulation by being rivetted to internal straps; the girdle assembly and the chest, upper back and shoulder assembly are attached together by buckled straps in this Corbridge 'A' variant; Corbridge 'B' has them attached by hooks and loops - and also has seven, rather than eight, pairs of girdle plates. Archaeological finds indicate that type 'B' was already in use during the early stages of the Claudian invasion of Britain.
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