Pteruges formed a defensive skirt of leather or multi-layered fabric (linen) strips or lappets worn dependant from the waists of Roman and Greek cuirasses of warriors and soldiers, defending the hips and thighs. Similar defenses, epaulette-like strips, were worn on the shoulders, protecting the upper arms. Both sets of strips are usually interpreted as belonging to a single garment worn under a cuirass, though in a linen cuirass ( linothorax) they may have been integral. The cuirass itself could be variously constructed: of plate-bronze ( muscle cuirass), linothorax, scale, lamellar or mail. Pteruges could be arranged as a single row of longer strips or in two or more layers of shorter, overlapping lappets of graduated length. [1] Possible later use [ edit ] Pteruges (also spelled pteryges; from Ancient Greek πτέρυγες ( ptéruges)'feathers') refers to strip-like defences for the upper parts of limbs attached to armor in the Greco-Roman world. Appearance and variation [ edit ] Pteruge featuring the face of Jupiter-Amon at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon Decorative leather or fabric strips worn by Roman and Greek soldiers Alexander the Great in battle. Pteruges of leather or stiffened linen are depicted at the shoulders and hips, emerging from beneath his cuirass. Detail of the Alexander Mosaic, a Roman copy of a Hellenistic painting.