Roman Scale Armor (lorica squamata)

Type Object Region Italy Time c. 1–500

Roman scale armor (lorica squamata) was made of small iron or bronze scales overlapped like fish scales on a leather or cloth backing, balancing flex…

Timeline

c. -200–-1Italian Peninsula · Italian PeninsulaRoman cavalry in the Republic already widely used scale armor, with scales hammered from iron or bronze and sewn one by one onto a leather backing, providing the flexibility needed for mounted mobility.
c. 1–250Britain · BritainIn the height of the Empire, scale armor was used alongside plate armor (lorica segmentata) and mail; auxiliary cavalry and officers especially favored scale armor, and large numbers of scale fragments have been excavated from sites in Britain and along the Rhine.
c. 250–500Roman Empire · Roman EmpireIn the late Empire, plate armor declined in use, while scale armor and mail became more common among cavalry and officers; Byzantine and Germanic successors continued the scale armor craft.

Sources

Roman Military Equipment: From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome — M.C. Bishop and J.C.N. Coulston (2006)