ABSTRACT
In September 1022, the Byzantine and Georgian armies clashed with each other in the war for the legacy of David Curopalates at the hard-to-pronounce site referred to as Shlpa. This was their second meeting. Despite the victory over Shirimni, the Byzantines bore the brunt of the Georgians’ attack when they repeatedly overran the Roman battle lines. According to Warren Treadgold, George I’s fight against the Byzantine Empire was stupid. Judging by the outcome, it is difficult to disagree with this assessment of the scholar, who is well aware of the military potential of the Byzantine Empire. Both Byzantines and Georgians used various types of lamellar and scale armour, such as banded and linear lamellar, riveted lamellar, the so-called inverted lamellar, lamellar consisting of rectangular plates, lamellar with concealed thongs and lamellar and scale armour consisting of the plates with protuberances.
