Glued Linen Armour- a simple test

[rocktupac]

Scott--

It is more likely that the pale armors of Greek art are leather. This likelihood is supported by contemporary sources--which you can read in other posts on this forum. The paucity of linguistic support for linen armor--and the relative richness of linguistic support for leather armor--further sways the issue.

Contemporary sources that don't use any evidence from the ancient sources to support their conclusion. I still don't understand how it is 'more likely' that the armor on vases is leather. How is it 'more likely'? What, besides the contemporary evidence, suggests this? Compared to references to linen armor in the ancient sources, leather armor almost doesn't exist (at least in the form of the Type IV).

I would suggest, however, that the cost of all linen armor would have been astronomical in 5th C. Athens--and that's an assertion, but one with support from contemporary sources, and one that can, I agree, be contested.

Jarva (in "Archaiologia on archaic Greek body armour")states that a linen cuirass (Type IV) made of nicer linen could cost about as much as a bronze cuirass (p.157), but that a cheaper linen cuirass could be made with inferior quality linen (p.153). His figures are based on careful price and labor reconstructions from various ancient sources.