Roman Imperial Armour: The Production of Early Imperial Military Armour

The Roman Empire depended on the power of its armies to defend and extend the imperial borders, enabling it to dominate much of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Success was, in large part, founded on well-trained, well-disciplined soldiers who were equipped with the most advanced arms and armor available at that time. This is the story of the production of that armor. Roman Imperial Armor presents an examination of the metals the armor was made from, of how the ores containing those metals were extracted from the earth and transformed into workable metal and of how that raw product was made into the armor of the Roman army. The policing and protecting of such a huge empire required a large and well-organized force and the book goes on to consider the organization of the army, its size, composition, the logistics involved in its deployment and provisioning and the training, remuneration and benefits offered to its men at arms.