resent-day manufacturers of replica arms and armour achieve levels of quality that are way beyond anything most Roman armourers seem to have aspired to, with a few notable exceptions. Edges of helmets, for example, were roughly finished, the symmetry of neck guards carelessly ignored; and these are just the details that we can see. As most smiths will confirm, finishing can be one of the most time-consuming phases of construction. In short, most Roman military equipment was – how to put this politely? – at best shoddy, and
