Scale armour
Encyclopedia
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, rawhide, leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
, cuir bouilli
Boiled leather
Boiled leather, sometimes called cuir bouilli, was a historical construction material for armour. It consists of thick leather, boiled in water . The boiling causes the leather to be harder but more brittle...
and horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
. The variations are primarily the result of material availability.
Types of scale armours
Scale armour is armour in which the individual scales are sewn or laced to a backing by one or more edges in overlapping rows resembling the scales of a fish or reptile. Lorica squamataLorica squamata
The Lorica squamata is a type of scale armour used by the ancient Roman military during the Roman Republic and at later periods. It was made from small metal scales sewn to a fabric backing. It is typically seen on depictions of standard bearers, musicians, centurions, cavalry troops, and even...
is an ancient Roman armour of this type and gyorin kozane is the Japanese (samurai) name for this type of scale armour.
Other types of armours made from individual scales but constructed in a different manner have their own separate names such as lamellar armour
Lamellar armour
Lamellar armour was one of three early body armour types made from armour plates. The other two types are scale armour and laminar armour.-Description:...
where the individual scales are perforated on several or all edges and lashed tightly to each other in straight ridged rows and do not need to be attached to a backing. The Romans also had a variant called lorica plumata
Lorica plumata
While several types of loricae existed in the Roman legion, the lorica plumata was reserved for the use of military leaders due to the high cost of production, and maintenance...
in which the scales were attached to mail.
Historical information
Horses covered with scale armor are mentioned in the ancient Chinese book of poetry Shi King which is several thousand years old.Scale armour is not of frequent occurrence on the grave monuments of the German frontier. On two tombstones of the Sertorii at Verona (one that of a centurion, the other that of a standard-bearer) both figures are represented wearing a tunic of scale armour which covers the shoulders and comes down below the belt. The Carnuntum monument of Calidius (a work of the middle of the first century) shows also a scaled tunic of a centurion. Again, in the collection of marble portrait-busts from the great Gallo-Roman villa of Chiragan near Toulouse, the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Severus both appear wearing corselets of scale armour.
Scythians
The Scythians horse warriors appear to have used scale or possibly lamellar armourLamellar armour
Lamellar armour was one of three early body armour types made from armour plates. The other two types are scale armour and laminar armour.-Description:...
, evident both from contemporary illustrations and burial finds in the Kurgan
Kurgan
Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology....
s. The armour was made from small plates of iron or bronze. Unique to the Schytians, about 20% of the females found in graves were dressed for war, some including armour, which may have inspired the Greek tales of Amazones.
Due to the semi-rigid nature of the armour, the Schythian armour was made as breast- and back-plates, with separate shoulder pieces. Some finds indicate partial armour, where a leather shirt or similar garment have sewn-on scales in places, particularly around the neck and upper chest.
Roman scale armours
The individual scales used to construct Roman armor are called squamae or squamaDuring Roman times scale armour (lorica squamata
Lorica squamata
The Lorica squamata is a type of scale armour used by the ancient Roman military during the Roman Republic and at later periods. It was made from small metal scales sewn to a fabric backing. It is typically seen on depictions of standard bearers, musicians, centurions, cavalry troops, and even...
) was a popular alternative to mail
Chainmail
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
(lorica hamata
Lorica hamata
The lorica hamata is a type of mail armour used by the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. During the 1st century it was starting to be supplemented by lorica segmentata, but had been reintroduced as sole standard-issue armor by the 4th century. It was issued for both primary Legionary and...
) as it offered better protection against bludgeoning. It was also widely used in Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern empires such as Persia and Byzantium
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. In these areas scales were commonly dished (an armouring term used to describe hammering a depression into a flat piece of metal in order to create a 'bowl' effect) in order to benefit from the extra protection offered by a rounded scale.
According to the statement of Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, the ancient Persians wore tunics with sleeves of diverse colours, having upon them iron scales of the shape of fish-scales; and this comparison leaves no doubt that scale armour, and not mail
Mail (armour)
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
, is meant.
Japanese scale armours
Japanese (samurai) individual scales are called kozaneJapanese scale armours constructed from fish type scales gyorin kozane were reportedly constructed in Japan as far back a the Fujiwawa period (11th century). "A primitive type of Japanese harness, the single laminae being of boiled leather, cut and beaten into pieces shaped like fish-scales."
Types of scale armours
Image:Roman scale armour detail.JPG|Fragment of Lorica squamata
Lorica squamata
The Lorica squamata is a type of scale armour used by the ancient Roman military during the Roman Republic and at later periods. It was made from small metal scales sewn to a fabric backing. It is typically seen on depictions of standard bearers, musicians, centurions, cavalry troops, and even...
. Each plate has six holes and the scales are linked in rows. Only the "lower most" holes are visible on most scales, while a few show the pair above and the ring fastener passing through them.
Image:Coat of Pangolin scales.JPG|Coat covered with the gold decorated scales of the pangolin
Pangolin
A pangolin , also scaly anteater or Trenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with...
. India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, early 19th century.
Image:Early coats of mail · HHWVII69.svg|Examples of early armour construction. The top two sections are examples of scale armour.
File:Riveted-Laced_Scale_Scheme.jpg|Riveted-laced scale armour. Note: the tops are laced to backing, the centers are loosely riveted. (East-Europe, Kievan Rus and Byzantium)
Image:Japanese scale armor.JPG|Japanese (samurai) fish style scale armor "gyorin kozane" from a helmet neck guard "kabuto shikoro" made from hardened leather (nerigawa).
File:Korean armour 2505.jpg|Korean armour made of tin scale (錫鱗甲), exposed at the Danghangpo Tourist Resort, site of the Danghangpo Battle.
Image:Nerigawa hon kozane (close up).JPG|Close up pictures of a Edo period Japanese (samurai) nerigawa hon kozane dou (dō) showing the individual nerigawa (leather) small scales (hon kozane).
File:Ancient Sasanid Cataphract Uther Oxford 2003 06 2(1).jpg|Historical re-enactment of a Sassanid era cataphract
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalry utilised in ancient warfare by a number of peoples in Western Eurasia and the Eurasian Steppe....
.
Comparison with other armour types
Scale armour offers better protection from blunt attacks than mail. It is also cheaper to produce, but it is not as flexible and does not offer the same amount of coverage. Forms other than brigandineBrigandine
A brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric....
and coat of plates
Coat of plates
A coat of plates is a form of torso armour consisting of metal plates sewn or riveted inside a cloth or leather garment. The coat of plates makes a fairly brief appearance in the history of European armour during the era of transitional armour, during a portion of the 14th century...
were uncommon in medieval Europe, but scale and lamellar remained popular elsewhere.
Modern forms of scale armour are sometimes worn for decorative or LARP
Live action role-playing game
A live action role-playing game is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world, while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may...
purposes, and may be made from materials such as steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
, or even titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
.
A similar type of modern personal armour is Dragon Skin body armour
Dragon Skin (body armor)
Dragon Skin is a type of ballistic vest made by Pinnacle Armor. It is currently produced in Fresno, California. Its characteristic two-inch-wide circular discs overlap like scale armor, creating a flexible vest that allows a good range of motion and can allegedly absorb a high number of hits...
, which uses ballistic fabric and high-impact resistant ceramic plates to protect against pistol and rifle fire. However, its "scales" are not exposed.
See also
- Lorica plumataLorica plumataWhile several types of loricae existed in the Roman legion, the lorica plumata was reserved for the use of military leaders due to the high cost of production, and maintenance...
with scales attached to a backing of mail - Lamellar armourLamellar armourLamellar armour was one of three early body armour types made from armour plates. The other two types are scale armour and laminar armour.-Description:...
which consists of scales laced together such as the klibanion - A brigandineBrigandineA brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric....
which consists of scales riveted between layers of leather or cloth. - A coat of platesCoat of platesA coat of plates is a form of torso armour consisting of metal plates sewn or riveted inside a cloth or leather garment. The coat of plates makes a fairly brief appearance in the history of European armour during the era of transitional armour, during a portion of the 14th century...
which consists of larger plates riveted between layers of leather or cloth.