The Ancient Roman Army is often looked upon as a model of order and uniformity, but this book reveals that this classical ideal is a myth and that Ancient Roman warriors served in a wide variety of armour and equipment, ranging from coats of mail to the exotic garb of crocodile skin. Sometimes they clad themselves in loot from the battlefield, but more often than not they wore equipment heavily influenced by the land in which they served. The development of Roman arms and armour is a story of increasing influence of foreign methods of fighting on the Roman legionary, until in the end he differed little from the barbarians he fought against.