06-23-2009, 07:05 AM
Here's something which might bring something new to this seemingly undying debate: a conference on "Military and Textile" was held in Copenhagen last month, and it features several articles on textile armour. Though the conference was discussed here on RAT, I don't think it's been brought up in this debate.
http://ctr.hum.ku.dk/upload/application ... %20May.pdf
Ancient Greek linen corselet by Eero Jarva, University of Oulu, Finland
The mention of Iphicrates' reforms is obviously misguided (and has already been addressed), but what's this reference to the linen cuirass' "explicit connection to horsemen"? I'd be interested to read this when (or if) the proceedings are published.
Other points of interest include a study of the iconographic representations of what seem to be linen cuirasses in Etruscan art and a discussion of the multi-layered linen fragment "associated with a quantity of bronze scales" from Masada, which is identified as a pterux.
http://ctr.hum.ku.dk/upload/application ... %20May.pdf
Ancient Greek linen corselet by Eero Jarva, University of Oulu, Finland
Quote:Eero Jarva
Abstract: Ancient Greek linen corselet
A group of ancient written sources refer to use of linen corselets among several peoples
in the antiquity. In the Greek world the testimony begins with the Homeric Iliad. May be
there have been varying structural solutions in the linen corselets, but for a long time it has
been recognized in the common breastplate type provided with shoulder pieces and flaps
hanging in the bottom. Different tactical uses are obvious: probably it was used as an
equipment of heavily armed hoplites but explicitly it is connected to horsemen and the
more lightly armed soldiers called peltastai, which were introduced by Iphicrates in the first
half of the 4th century BC. We hear of doubts regarding the resistibility of the linen corselet
but there is also opposite testimony. The horseman connections of the linen corselet and
mentioning of its use by kings suggest that it was quite expensive. This is suggested also by
the technical and protective needs and the prices of linen documented in written sources.
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The mention of Iphicrates' reforms is obviously misguided (and has already been addressed), but what's this reference to the linen cuirass' "explicit connection to horsemen"? I'd be interested to read this when (or if) the proceedings are published.
Other points of interest include a study of the iconographic representations of what seem to be linen cuirasses in Etruscan art and a discussion of the multi-layered linen fragment "associated with a quantity of bronze scales" from Masada, which is identified as a pterux.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
