What the description of Sphacteria has to tell us

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Fair enough,we disagree in some points,but just have in mind that "pilos" is not something that defines shape. It means felt or felt cap and not a specific head wear that can be either bronze,felt or dogskin. This is just modern convension that this particular helmet has to be called pilos. And because once in Lysistrata it is mentioned a "pilos xalkous", ab bronze pilos, we supposed that it had to be this one. In fact supporting that a felt cap cannot be of any protection is the same as saying that some layers of linen cannot protect either,although they have been used as armour for centuries.
I also believe there was a large number of bronze piloi,as well as other-mostly chalkidean-helmets. But IF for SOME reason among those Spartans there was a decent number who wore soft protective hats,this would be enough for Thucydides to say that their helmets(obviously not talking for all of them in any way) were not very good against arrows.
Remember there were well equiped and less well equiped armies,often from the same city. There were hundrets of instances where an Athenian army was gathered to fight. But only for the first one who prepared for Syracuse does Thuc mention how brilliantly each and every soldier was equiped. This implies that other Athenian armies were not so brilliantly equiped. Similarly, a spartan garisson in an uninhabited island with no great significance to them may not have been so well equiped for phalanx fighting.
I suppose the base of our disagreement is that I believe felt caps were some times used as a helmet and that those ones depicted are not just helmet liners,and you believe the oposite.
As for the artists having to depict soft matterials differently,this is crearly not valid either. I can point you to at least one sculpture from Aphaia in Aegina,where there's a helmet lining depicted under the raised helmet,and it's smoothe like any other metal surface
Khaire
Giannis