Subarmalis

A Little Padding Goes a Long Way

Wearing metal armor over a thin tunic sounds uncomfortable, and it probably was. So a soldier almost certainly wore something padded underneath — reenactors call it a subarmalis — to put some cushioning between his body and all that metal.

The padding made armor more comfortable, helped spread its weight, and kept hard edges and fittings off the body. It may have added a little protection too. Think of the soft lining inside a hard helmet: the armor did the serious protecting, the padding made wearing it bearable.

Exactly what first-century under-armor garments looked like is still debated, so the heavily padded versions seen today involve some reconstruction.

But the basic idea is easy to appreciate:

If you’re going to spend all day wrapped in iron, a little cushioning sounds like a very good Roman idea.