1 Samuel 17:5
And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
And he had an helmet of brass upon his head,.... This was a piece of armour, which covered the head in the day of battle; these were usually made of the skins of beasts, of leather, and which were covered with plates of iron, or brass; and sometimes made of all iron, or of brass {g}; as this seems to have been:
and he was armed with a coat of mail; which reached from the neck to the middle, and consisted of various plates of brass laid on one another, like the scales of fishes {h}, so close together that no dart or arrow could pierce between:
and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass: which made one hundred and fifty six pounds and a quarter of zygostatic or avoirdupois weight; and therefore he must be a very strong man indeed to carry such a weight. So the armour of the ancient Romans were all of brass, as this man's; their helmets, shields, greaves, coats of mail, all of brass, as Livy says {i}; and so in the age of the Grecian heroes {j}.
{g} Vid. Lydium "de re militari": l. 3. c. 5. p. 63.
{h} "----Rutilum thoraca indutus anis Horrebat squamis----" Virgil. Aeneid. l. 11.
{i} Hist. l. 1. c. 22.
{j} Pausan. Messenica, l. 3. p. 163. So Homer frequently describes the Grecians with a coat of mail of brass.