Scale armour is an early form of armour consisting of many individual small armour scales (plates) of various shapes attached to each other and to a backing of cloth or leather in overlapping rows.''Armed Batavians: Use and Significance of Weaponry and Horse Gear from Non-military Contexts in the Rhine Delta (50 Bc to Ad 450)''
Author Johan Nicolay, Publisher Amsterdam University Press, 2008, , Scale armour was worn by warriors of many different cultures as well as their horses. The material used to make the scales varied and included

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, rawhide,

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

, cuir bouilli, seeds, horn, or

pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smutsia''. ''Manis'' comprises four species found in Asia, while ' ...

scales. The variations are primarily the result of material availability. Scale armour – a defence of great antiquity – began in the Middle East. The earliest representation is the tomb of Kenamon, who lived in Egypt in the reign of Amenhotep II (1436–1411 BC).

Types

Scale armour is armour in which the individual scales are sewn or laced to a backing by one or more edges and arranged in overlapping rows resembling the scales of a fish/reptile or roofing tiles. The scales are usually assembled and strapped by lacing or rivets. Lorica squamata is an ancient Roman armour of this type. Other types of armour made from individual scales but constructed in a different manner have their own separate names, such as lamellar armour 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 in which the scales were attached to mail.

Historical information

Scythians

The

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

' horse warriors appear to have used scale or possibly lamellar armour, evident both from contemporary illustrations and burial finds in

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

s. The armour was made from small plates of iron or bronze. Due to the semi-rigid nature of the armour, the Scythian variety was made as breast- and back-plates, with separate shoulder pieces. Some finds indicate partial armour, where a leather shirt or similar garment has sewn-on scales in places, particularly around the neck and upper chest.

Roman scale armour

The individual scales used to construct Roman armour are called . During Roman times, scale armour ('' lorica squamata'') was a popular alternative to

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

('' lorica hamata'') as it offered better protection against blunt force trauma. Hellenistic-Attic lamellar armour was also widely used in

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern empires, such as

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

. In these areas, scales were commonly dished (that is, with a bowl effect from a depression being hammered into a flat piece of metal) in order to benefit from the extra protection offered by a rounded scale. According to the statement of

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, the ancient Persians wore tunics with sleeves of diverse colours, having upon them iron scales of the shape of fish-scales; this comparison indicates scale armour, and not mail, is meant. 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.

Medieval Europe

Metal scale armour was used throughout most of the European world for the duration of the medieval period. It was commonly used to augment other armour types, predominantly mail, but also plate armour taking the form of a

cuirass A cuirass ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The term probably originates from the original material, leather, from the Old French word and the Latin word . The us ...

over mail, scale pauldrons, or faulds (the lower part of a breastplate that protects the lower stomach, hips and groin). There is also evidence for scale

sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armour, body armor that covers the foot. History Sabatons from the 14th and 15th centuries typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following poulaines, f ...

s (protective shoe coverings) and scale

aventail An aventail () or camail () is a flexible curtain of mail (armour), mail attached to the skull of a helmet that extends to cover at least the neck, but often also the throat and shoulders. Part or all of the face, with spaces to allow vision, cou ...

s. The use of these scale armoured components is commonly depicted in period art and funeral effigies. The funeral effigy of Sir Albrecht Von Hohenlohe circa 1325 AD depicts him wearing scaled body armour underneath his surcoat and over a mail

haubergeon A hauberk or byrnie is a Chain mail, mail shirt. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. A haubergeon ("little hauberk") refers to a smaller mail shirt, that was sometimes sleeveless, but ...

. Sir Albrecht's armour appears to be additionally riveted to the backing.

Korea

Scale armour was typically reserved for officers and senior soldiers in the militaries of various Korean states, including the period of the

Three Kingdoms of Korea The Three Kingdoms of Korea or Samhan (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) competed for hegemony over the Korea, Korean Peninsula during the ancient period of History of Korea, Korean history. During the Three Kingdoms period (), many states and statele ...

, due to cost and duration of production.Kim T, Hwang JY, Park GY, Lee MW. "Innovativeness in tradition: a comparative study of traditional leather armour scales and modern materials." Published 2023 August 5. https://fashionandtextiles.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40691-023-00341-z As with other scale and lamellar styles of armour in other parts of the world, this armour was effective against light missiles and stabbing as well as against blade slashing, but not against heavy thrusts (e.g., from spears, ballista-type projectiles, and sword thrusts). Early in the Joseon era (1392-1897), due to the cost and difficulty of bulk transport, an initiative was begun to replace metal (usually iron) components in armour with hardened leather in a majority of armour delivered/issued to military personnel. The tradeoff of this initiative (which was begun as early as 1457 Office of Royal Annals. "Annals of King Sejo." 1457 January 3. https://sillok.history.go.kr/popup/viewer.do?id=kga_10301003_002&type=view&reSearchWords=&reSearchWords_ime=) was that while lighter, warmer, and more flexible than iron-scaled armour (as well as less costly to produce and easier to transport), the leather-based scaled armour provided less effective protection in combat. By the time of the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592-1598, some Korean military armour components had been switched over from iron to hardened leather, but extant examples and contemporary documentation indicate that those Korean personnel wearing armour still utilized iron scales and such armour proved to be effective against most Japanese weaponry (not so much against firearms) in combat. Over the course of the Joseon Dynasty, Korean scaled armour changed in style. Initially the scales were on the exterior of the armour and thus attached to a base leather and fabric backing, but by the later Joseon era the scales (by this time mostly hardened leather) were riveted inside the armour coat, Park, J. "Yungwonpilbi." 1813. http://kostma.korea.ac.kr/data/des/RIKS+CRMA+KSM-WZ.1813.0000-20140422.TOYO_1584/IMG/TOYO_1584_002/0025.JPG forming a type of

brigandine A brigandine (sometimes spelled "brigantine"), also called a brigander, is a form of body armour, in use from the late Middle Ages and up to the early modern era. It is a garment typically made of heavy cloth, canvas, or leather, featuring s ...

armour.

China

Horses covered with scale armour are mentioned in the ancient Chinese book of poetry, ''

Shi Jing The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

''.

Japan

Japanese (samurai) individual scales are called . Japanese scale armour constructed from fish type scales (''gyorin kozane'') were reportedly constructed in Japan as far back as the Fujiwara 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."

Borneo

Kadazan people in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

make armour from scales of the Sunda pangolin.

Java

The Javanese people has a type of scale armour called siping-siping. It is a protective jacket with scale-shaped metal plates, possibly made of brass.

Equine scale armour

At the ancient site of

Dura-Europos Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian Empire, Parthian, and Ancient Rome, Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Al-Salihiyah, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, S ...

, there were two full sets of scale armour for horses found during archaeology excavations. These sets of armour were determined to be from the Roman occupation of the city in the 3rd century CE. They were found in Tower 19, a defensive tower on the edge of the city, after destruction and fire due to defensive tactics. They were folded, one with an arrowhead still in it, and very well preserved. These horse "trappers"—a term used in Simon James's excavation report—were made of a textile base covered by a layer of metal scales, one with iron and one with bronze. As the armour sets were found within the city walls, they are assumed to have belonged to the Romans. However, the style of armour is tied to the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

so there is some confusion as to who the armor belonged to. Also found at Dura-Europos were drawings, or

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

, that depicted scale armour on horses and cavalrymen. Graffito_of_Clibanarius

Comparison with other armour types

Scale armour offers better and more solid protection from piercing and blunt attacks than

chain mail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

. Goldman, Norma."Reconstructing Roman Clothing", in ''The World of Roman Costume''. Eds. Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante (Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994): 213–237. It is also cheaper to produce, but it is not as flexible and does not offer the same amount of coverage. Forms other than

and coat of plates were uncommon in medieval Europe, but scale and lamellar remained popular elsewhere. Modern forms of scale armour are sometimes worn for decorative or LARP purposes, and may be made from materials such as

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

, or even

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

. A similar type of modern personal armour is Dragon Skin body armour, which uses ballistic fabric and impact-resistant ceramic plates to protect against pistol and rifle fire. However, its "scales" are not exposed.

Gallery

File:Warrior of Scithians.png, Scythian warrior in bronze scale armour 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. The tops are laced to backing, the centres are loosely riveted. (East-Europe, Kievan Rus and Byzantium) Image:Japanese scale armor.JPG, Japanese fishscale armour ''gyorin kozane'', from a helmet neck-guard ''kabuto shikoro'', made from hardened leather File:Korean armour 2505.jpg, Korean armour made of tin scale (錫鱗甲), displayed at the Danghangpo Tourist Resort, site of the Battle of Danghangpo File:Ancient Sasanid Cataphract Uther Oxford 2003 06 2(1).jpg, Historical re-enactment of a Sassanid-era

cataphract A cataphract was a form of armoured heavy cavalry that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armoured horseman, with both the rider and ...

References

External links

2,700-year-old leather armor proves technology transfer happened in antiquity
Phys.org December 8, 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Scale Armour Medieval armour Body armor Plate armour cs:Zbroj#Šupinová zbroj