LATE CLASSICAL TO EARLY HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 400-300 B.C.

Included in this panoply is an anatomical cuirass, consisting of a breast- and back-plate, and two anatomical greaves. The anatomical cuirass emerged during the Classical period. Like its Greek predecessor, the “muscle cuirass,” the Italic type aimed to mimic an idealized male physique. Unlike the Greek type, however, it was much smaller and shallower, and the breast- and back-plates were never meant to be joined directly, instead secured by the addition of side-plates and straps. Additionally, it often had perforations along the edges for a lining, as seen in this example, a feature not found on its Greek counterparts (see Merrony, ed., op. cit., p. 229). For a related cuirass ascribed to an Etruscan workshop, see no W41 in D. Cahn Waffen und Zaumzeug; for a similar breast-plate, see the fragmentary example from Ruvo, now in the British Museum, Inv. no. 1867,0508.196.