08-20-2005, 09:39 PM
Quote:If the linothorax was made from cotton they would not have described it using the root word for flax.
Why not? The cuirass uses the root word for leather ('cuir'), yet for most of its history it was a metal item. 'linothorax' only proves that it involved linen at some point.
However, I would need some convincing that cotton is actually going to perfporm better than linen in that armour because if it doesn't, there would be no need to replace an easily available staple (flax) with an exotic and expensive import (cotton). Some Hellenistic tinkerer must have tried it, but would the outcome have justified the cost and trouble?
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach
