Manica (armguard)

Component of late antique armor Reenactment of a second century Roman legionary wearing a manica over his right arm A manica (Latin: [ˈmanɪka]; Latin for 'sleeve'; Ancient Greek: χεῖρες, romanized: kheîres, lit. 'sleeves') was a type of iron or copper-alloy laminated arm guard with curved, overlapping metal segments or plates fastened to leather straps worn by ancient and late antique heavy cavalry, infantry, and gladiators. It is most widely associated with use by the Romans, Parthians, and Achaemenid and Sasanian Persians. Terminology The term manica is only used once to refer to arm armor, where Juvenal mentions the armor of a Gladiator as "...balteus et manicae et cristae crurisque sinistri dimidium tegimen!" ("...strap and arm-guards and crests and half-covering of the left leg.") In Greek, Xenophon gives the terms χειρῖδας (kheiridas) and χεῖρα (kheira) in the Cyropaedia and his "On Cavalry," both of which describe the armor as covering from the shoulder to the hand as a complete sleeve. History Tropaeum Traiani Metope XX Legionary with manica laminata and sword, facing a Dacian falxman According to Xenophon, "kheires" (χεῖρες) which consisted