Lorica Hamata
Roman legionary chainmail armor
Lorica hamata is the armor that the Roman legion wore the longest, and the very Latin name, hamata, comes from hamus, the hook, meaning the cuirass set of hooked rings. Small iron rings, each linked into four neighbors, were woven together as if into cloth, with one row of rings riveted shut and the next row punched solid alternating, and this weave is its sharpest mark. A single suit was made of as few as 20,000 and as many as 30,000 rings, and on the shoulders a doubled layer was added to make a strong seat against the blow falling from above. The lorica segmentata of laminar plate is the best-known mark of Rome in film and period drama, but in truth the hamata took root much earlier and lived much longer, and was worn alike by the auxiliaries, the cavalry, and many of the legionaries. A single suit weighed about 10 to 15 kilograms, not far above the segmentata, and with the great advantage that a cut ring could be replaced on the spot in camp, the hamata took its place as the most practical single piece of armor in the field.
