Lorica Hamata, "armor with hooks", from Lat. hamus - "hook") — ancient Roman armor of chain mail type. It was one of the most common types of armor in the Roman army and was in service for the longest time — more than 6 centuries.
Lorica Hamata was made mainly of iron or bronze alloys. The rings were held together by more than just mixing: rows of flat, closed rings were intertwined with rows of riveted rings. This made it possible to create armor with good operational properties — quite strong and flexible. The rings had an inner diameter of 5 mm and an outer diameter of 7 mm. The diameter of the wire itself, from which the rings were made, was about 1.7 mm. It took several thousand rings to create one such armor!
Additional chain armor plates attached to brass hooks could also protect the warrior's shoulders. They vaguely resembled the Greek linothorax, which was also attached to the front and back with bronze or iron hooks. Lorica hamata in its length could reach up to the middle of the thighs, its weight was 10-12 kg. For convenience and improvement of protective properties, a poddospeshnik —subarmalis was worn under the hamata . The main advantages of the hamata lorica over the segmenata lorica were the greater comfort of wearing and greater mobility of a legionnaire in armor, but its defensive qualities were not so good.
There is a version that chain armor appeared in the east, and it is also possible that they were invented in several places by different peoples independently of each other. Lorica hamata in its usual form, with shoulder straps, was actively used by the Celts, and the Celtic civilization became the main source of distribution of hamata in the ancient world.
Celtic chain mail appears in the 4th-3rd century BC. e. This is indicated by numerous archaeological finds of fragments of chain mail, as well as their ancient images. Thanks to the good preservation of individual statues, today we can clearly imagine how the Celtic warriors looked in general, and the mail themselves in particular. The Celtic chain mail was a rectangle without sleeves, with holes for the arms and head, up to the middle of the thigh. There was also a separate pad for strengthening the shoulders. In addition to the standard riveted-cross-section rings already for Rome, there are fragments of reduced chain mail. However, the poor protective properties and low reliability of the combined chain mail suggests that they were used for ritual purposes.
In many ways, the Celtic civilization was more advanced than the Roman one. The Romans actively adopted the experience of more developed peoples, and among other technologies borrowed from the Celts chain armor. During the Republic era, the lorica hamata became the most popular armor in the Roman army.
Hamata was also widespread among Roman army officers. There is information about its use by centurions and representatives of the banner group. It could also be used by junior officers, whose equipment was indistinguishable from ordinary legionnaires.
In the era of the early Empire, in addition to hamata, other types of armor are actively used- lorica segmentata and lorica squamata, which have better protective properties when receiving piercing blows. Also, the hamata itself is divided into several subspecies: in addition to the classic hamata, a shortened lorica hamata appears up to the waist, without separate shoulder pads. Due to its flexibility and simplicity, it gained great popularity in the auxilia and Roman cavalry. Thanks to the segmental-ring structure, armor damaged in battle could be restored simply with the help of spare rings.
Sometimes the Romans "signed" their lorica hamata, as well as other utensils. For example, on one of the hooks of a hamata found in Germany, data about a legionnaire is written: M. Aii (cohorte) I (prima) > (centuria) Fab(richii) e M. Aius (cohorte) I (prima) (centuria) Fabrici(i). Today, this archaeological find is kept in the Kalkrize Museum. In addition, the hooks were decorated with engraving and chasing, and their ends could be made in the form of snakes and other animals.
During the decline of the Roman Empire, the production of segmentata was discontinued due to the crisis of the craft itself, and hamata again became the most common armor in the Roman army.
The lorica hamata was worn by legionnaires, auxiliaries, centurions, standard bearers, and cavalrymen. Armor was made of iron, but some parts, such as hooks, were cast from bronze alloys. The inner diameter of the ring of chain mail was from 0.5 to 0.7 cm (0.6 cm is the most common), the hamata weave itself was riveted and cut. Legionnaires both in the 1st century and at the beginning of the 2nd century AD additionally strengthened the protection of the shoulders, and at the beginning of the 2nd century the legionary hamata could not have shoulders. Auxiliaries used hamata without additional shoulder pads.
Auxiliaries, Legionnaire, Centurion, Lorica Segmentata, Subarmalis, Ala, Linothorax, The Celts