Subarmalis
The subarmalis was a Roman armored undergarment.
Surname
Subarmalis is a combination of words, made up of the two Latin words sub and armus = (under) arm. The literal translation would be clothes turned back under the arm.
Description and use
The Subarmalis was a short-sleeved shirt sewn from leather and linen. It was worn under the lorica and corresponded to the medieval gambeson . The subarmalis protected the wearer from chafing the armor. It was padded, among other things on the shoulders, which made the weight more bearable, which came about through the armor and the marching baggage placed on it with a stick. It also had a protective function, as the armor held out blows and blows, but did not dampen their force. The historian Justasian writes:
"(The armor) should not be worn directly on normal clothing, as some do to reduce the weight of the armor, but on a garment that is no less than a finger thick"
The padding must therefore have been at least 1 cm.
In the legionnaires' free time, the Subarmalis was often worn without armor. A similar vest with the same benefit was called "peristaethidion" (= breast wrapper).
history
At the beginning of the Roman Empire the problem arose that instead of the old leather armor, the majority of Roman legionaries wore the Lorica Segmentata and the Lorica Hamata . It therefore came around 25 BC. To an army reform, with which the Subarmalis was introduced, which had to be worn since then.
Justasian the I, a Roman author, wrote the book "Peri Strategias", in which the correct equipment of a legionnaire is described. Among other things, the subarmalis occurs here.
Individual evidence
- ↑ subarmalis . In: Karl Ernst Georges : Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary. Hanover 1918, Volume 2, Col. 2842.
Web links
literature
- Justasian the I .: Peri Strategias. Pp. 20-27.
- Peter Connolly : The Roman Army. Tessloff-Verlag, Nuremberg 1989, ISBN 3-7886-0180-9 .