The lorica musculata in the film “Gladiator” does not suit the period of AD 180

But then, the specialists already snort at this armour as it is, the so-called lorica musculata, that is, a two-plate cuirass fashioned in the shape of a male torso, with the detailed contours of a muscular chest at the front. Such armour was in use in the Roman army in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, but by the time of the events described in Gladiator, that is, AD 180, it had long fallen out of service, save as an element of the ceremonial attire of the emperor and the high command, and even then it was more often a more modern, richly wrought feathered mail shirt, the lorica plumata, more comfortable, more effective and altogether more dignified.