Squamata! And it's real...

Tuesday teaser!
What's squamata?

I blogged yesterday about my visit to The Mc Manus Gallery in Dundee. Today I'm posting some more images, photos that I took at the museum. Unfortunately, although you are allowed to photograph (no flash, of course) the exhibits are behind glass cases and my photography skills are not brilliant. Enjoy the best you can!

The answer to the question above is that it's one of the types of chest mail used by some ancient Roman soldiers. It can also be referred to as scale mail. The example below is highly prized by the museum since it was found near Dundee at the site of the fort of Carpow, built/ rebuilt by Emperor Severus approx. AD 209-211. The scales were individually sewn to a backing in overlapping rows, a painstaking business and no doubt a lengthy one.

Squamata mail - McManus Gallery Dundee Scotland

Here are some further examples via Wikimedia Commons. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_scale_armour_detail.JPG

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dacian_Scale_Armour.JPG

From Trajan's Column.

Lorica Squamata worn by a reenactment Roman soldier at Cricau Festival. 

 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cricau_Festival_2013_-_Lorica_squamata_-_2.jpg)

The Emperors Antoninus Pius and Severus both wear lorica squamata in the collection of marble portrait busts  from the Gallo -Roman villa of Chiragen near Toulouse. (Sadly, I can't locate them at present.)

You can view some reenactors wearing squamata on Pinterest. This is only one possibility.
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/497366352574482432/

Slàinthe!