Lorica Hamata

 Although often over shadowed by its sibling, Lorica Segmentata, the chain maile haubert Lorica Hamata was extensively used by legionaries of both the Roman Republic and Empire.Originating with the Celtic tribes of Europe the Roman's quickly realized the protective qualities of maile and adopted the use of the armor for their legions. Not only does maile offer good protection from slashing weapons but it is far more comfortable to wear and field repair. Maile is heavy but the use of a waist belt supports the weight upon the hips not unlike a modern rucksack. More importantly maile moves with the body so is far less restrictive than a stiff linothorax or plated armors. Additional protection from blunt force trauma can be gained by wearing padded clothing under the mail in addition to the usual linen or wool tunic. It is surmised that legionaries may have worn a subarmalis, an early variant of the medieval gamberson.

  Maile was also modified to suit the military tactics of the Roman legions.  Legionaries placed in disciplined ranks and protected behind their scutums, a large square shield, were often subjected to slashing attacks towards the head and shoulders. As a result a shoulder mantle was added to the hauberk to add additional protection to the upper body with Roman helmets evolving to add more head and neck protection with the addition of cheek pieces and extended neck guards.

  The scutum was held in the left hand using a central shield boss but legionaries wore their sword on their right side. This sounds counter intuitive to the usual cross body right handed draw. This was manageable as the gladius was designed to be primarily a short thrusting sword. To improve the right hand draw for a sword on the right hip the baldric was placed over the lorica hamata and then the cingulum, a waist belt was worn over the baldric. This achieved two important things. The cingulum carried the weight of the maile while it also secured the sheath when the gladius was drawn using a vertical upwards draw. It sounds awkward but when shoulder to shoulder in a tight shield wall a vertical draw is quicker while limiting arm contact with the soldier on your right side. .