[Low-Tech] rigid torso armor

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Purple Haze

The Greeks and Romans made "muscle cuirasses" out of leather as well as bronze and iron. So yes they existed.

There is no evidence to suggest that the muscle-cuirass was ever made of anything other than metal. The only evidence of Roman leather armour is in the form of scale/lamellar. The Greeks had a type of leather armour called a spolas that is probably the tube-and-yoke armour depicted in illustrations.

Regarding the original question, rigid armour stops at the mid-rib. It doesn't matter whether it is made of leather or metal. If you actually look at a muscle cuirass you'll see that it isn't anatomically correct. The navel on the armour is located a lot higher than the navel on the wearer and the bottom of the cuirass actually stops at about navel level. The abdomen was covered with leather/cloth strips called ptyruges. If you extended a breastplate down so that it covered the abdomen then it would be very restrictive.