Gaulish felt armor

[Caturix]

Why not?
The use of organic greaves is attested in various context...

Such as?

The greaves from Dura Europos, for example...

Firstly, Polybius doesn't write that they were "well protected" by their clothing. Translated quite literally it reads "many of the Celts were well served (euchrestian) with heavy cloaks/coats (sagoi) and trousers (anaxuridon)." That word euchrestian simply means that they benefited from wearing their clothing,

Sorry, but I still don't think that normal bracae and camisiae can "well serve" or give you some "benefit" against a volley of javelin.

And heavier clothing could definitely confer some defense, especially heavier leather clothing.

What is the difference between "heavier leather clothing" and a light armor? I think we are almost saying the same thing...

And however, if the protection of the Boii and Insubres were made of leather, I think that Polybius wuould have written it in some way, because something similar existed among the Greeks.

It might not be great, but it would provide something, especially when compared to wearing nothing, which is the entire point of that passage.

I repeat, if a dress isn't specifically concieved to protect against blows or projectiles, It will not give you any notable defense against a volley of javelins. Even a really dirty and unclean dress :wink:

However, if you want, we can try... obviously I want to be the one that throw the javelin :wink:

Still, to get to the point, neither sagos nor anaxurides carry any connotation of armour with them, and for Polybius, a military author who would know his military terminology, to use such words to refer to a cuirass like that the Glauberg chieftain is depicted seems unbelievable.

The point is that probably Polybius hadn't a specific term to define the protections of Boii and Insubres, and uses the nearest Greek term to define them... we have similar examples in greek licterature... in some statements the celtic swords are described by Greeks as "Kopis machaira", but we know that the Celts didn'use curved swords.
The Greeks used "Kopis Machaira" to define La Tène swords just because they were mainly chopping weapons, and because in Greek language wasn't any term to define the weapon in specific.

I this case I think that the word "sagos" is used because Polybius wants to describe something that defend against javelins but definitely isn't a linothorax or a leather armor.

The use among Romans of felt protections (Coactilia) so bring me to hypothesize a felt protection.