10th Century Byzantine soldiers in scenes from the Book of Joshua

10th Century Byzantine soldiers in scenes from the Book of Joshua from a Byzantine Casket, 10th Century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Destruction of Ai, the captive king of Ai and emissaries from the Gibeonites.

These are similar to scenes from the book of Joshua on a Byzantine Plaque, 10th century, Victoria and Albert Museum.
The composition is also similar to the Joshua Roll

MIRROR SITE
Soldiers in Scenes from the Book of Joshua from a Byzantine Casket, 10th Century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Druzhina
10th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

What torso armour do you think is being depicted there? I think there are leather strips forming a skirt and shoulder protection, and on the torso there appears to be a harness of some sort around the upper chest, but I don't see much detail of the torso material. Do the dark spots represent scales do you think?

I'm not sure what the material is being displayed here, but I would not assume the skirts are metal or tough because someone is sitting on the chair with it. Could probably be a cascade of leather strips. The dark spots could be what is left over from paint because I would assume a tabard is being worn to identify what the person is representing.

Looks like a kind of lamellar, or gambeson to me. The pattern and shape would suggest a heavy padded jack underneath the covered harness, or maybe just steel plates cascading down in that slanted pattern.

There is no indication of rivets or holes/lacing to hold the lamellar together, but the artist may have simply not bothered to put that extra detail in. The way the skirt hangs and suddenly seems to end and fold could also suggest gambeson.

As for the chest harness, It is worn to press the weight of something onto the wearer's torso(to keep it off his shoulders), and I doubt that it is a gambeson that this is intended to bear the weight of.

So we comes to two possible conclusions.
A: The harness is helping to spread the weight of the long lamellar coat which the soldiers are wearing
or
B: The harness is spreading the weight of some sort of steel armour underneath the cloth vest, likely some form of scale, lamellar, or brigandine. This would mean that the skirt length part of the outfit is likely a gambeson.

It is possible that the detail was only painted and that most of this has been lost. There is more carved detail on the Plaque which was probably not painted.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Druzhina said:

It is possible that the detail was only painted and that most of this has been lost. There is more carved detail on the Plaque which was probably not painted.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Click to expand...

Indeed, the Plaque makes it quite clear that the soldiers are wearing a form of scale or lamellar.

most probably quilted armor, as in this quick guide from
Osprey - Warrior 118 - Byzantine Infantryman


osprey inspired reconstructions from the
Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Uniforms of the Roman World

Matmohair, do you take these pictures yourself or are you a legendary google searcher? Lol

I can always rely on you to provide tons of illustrations on something.

I would also guess those supposed patterns were quilted because if those patterns were metal, the pointy ends would stab into the wearer.

actually they where scanned and posted
by someone else on another website  anyways,
thanks, glad to be of help!