11-20-2007, 08:45 PM
Duncan wrote:-
...this hardly fits the bill! The Epigoni is the mythological pre-Trojan war 'Seven against Thebes'. And you are being somewhat disingenuous,Duncan, :wink: because the very next line of this 'preparations for war' refers to chariot poles!...hardly 'contemporary! :o
The Iphicrates reference, aside from being very late, refers to chain-mail being replaced by 'lighter' linen...something clearly wrong here, on both counts!
By Caracalla's day, they probably had no more idea than we do about exactly what such Tube-and-Yoke corselets were made of, and we don't know what prompted the choice.Suitably Homeric? Plutarch's reference to Alexander wearing Persian armour? Were these quilted?
If we are to clutch at such straws, then you might as well include the fragment of Alcaeus of Lesbos and his reference to 'new linen'...except he lived before Tube-and-Yoke corselets appear and is almost certainly writing 'Homeric' poetry.
All that these examples do is highlight the fact that there is no credible/plausible contemporary references to Tube-and-Yoke corselets being constructed of linen.
I have summarised all this stuff before(see e.g."Leather Cuirass" thread, page 7.)....the only new things are the second lexica reference to leather armour, and the fact that Alum-tawed leather/ rawhide is white(see e.g. American baseballs) and appears to fit the bill perfectly as a contender......and possibly the Macedonian Hoplite grave sites, which apparently contain fragments of leather armour.....
Quote:"And the helmets are shaking their purple-dyed crests, and for the wearers of breast-plates the weavers are striking up the wise shuttle's songs, that wakes up those who are asleep."
...this hardly fits the bill! The Epigoni is the mythological pre-Trojan war 'Seven against Thebes'. And you are being somewhat disingenuous,Duncan, :wink: because the very next line of this 'preparations for war' refers to chariot poles!...hardly 'contemporary! :o
The Iphicrates reference, aside from being very late, refers to chain-mail being replaced by 'lighter' linen...something clearly wrong here, on both counts!
By Caracalla's day, they probably had no more idea than we do about exactly what such Tube-and-Yoke corselets were made of, and we don't know what prompted the choice.Suitably Homeric? Plutarch's reference to Alexander wearing Persian armour? Were these quilted?
If we are to clutch at such straws, then you might as well include the fragment of Alcaeus of Lesbos and his reference to 'new linen'...except he lived before Tube-and-Yoke corselets appear and is almost certainly writing 'Homeric' poetry.
All that these examples do is highlight the fact that there is no credible/plausible contemporary references to Tube-and-Yoke corselets being constructed of linen.
I have summarised all this stuff before(see e.g."Leather Cuirass" thread, page 7.)....the only new things are the second lexica reference to leather armour, and the fact that Alum-tawed leather/ rawhide is white(see e.g. American baseballs) and appears to fit the bill perfectly as a contender......and possibly the Macedonian Hoplite grave sites, which apparently contain fragments of leather armour.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
