The set of metal scales discovered in 1909 in the “Palace of Apries” in Memphis, comprising 2,776scales, is one of the most complete defensive equipment of its kind ever found in the EasternMediterranean. Analysis of the archaeological context allows this discovery to be dated to the endof the Saite dynasty or, more likely, to the early Achaemenid period. Indeed, similarities betweenthe Memphis armor and several other cuirasses from various Achaemenid sites in Iran and Turkeylink it to the Persian period. This article offers a preliminary study of this object and a typology ofthe scales that made up this particularly sophisticated armour. It concludes with a discussion ofthe type of imperial personnel likely to have worn this type of protection.