shazzdan wrote:The Karanis armour was definitely Egyptian style. Egyptian scale armour hadn't changed since the Bronze Age. It is virtually identical to the one that Carter found in Tut's tomb.
http://exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu/ConAntiq/leatherarmor.html
My question is where do we draw the line? When does it stop being Egyptian and start being Roman?
It's a very good question, and I am not quite sure we can draw a line. If Roman units adopted this in any number (as opposed to -- say -- some local city guards), I suppose it would make it Roman. Thanks for the link, I had never seen the Karanis armor before (which is a shame, since I've been to the Kelsey more than once), and assumed it was strap armor, a bit like lorica segmentata rather than scale armor like the squamata. It does look pretty close to the Bronze Age depictions and remains, although those were in metal -- the ones I've seen anyway.
