01-15-2010, 05:49 PM
Quote:One need look no futher than Arrian [6.9]
"No Indian ventured to approach Alexander as he stood on the the fortress wall; but he was the target of every marksman in the neighbouring towers; men in the town shot at him too - and from no great distance either... That it was indeed Alexander who stood there was plain to all; his almost legendary courage no less than his shining armour proclaimed him."
I've never seen a single author describe leather or linen armour as "shining"
Not necessarily armor, but Livy (9.40.3) describes the Samnites appearing for battle arrayed in "shining white linen tunics" (tunicae...argentatis linteae candidae). Certainly if linen tunics could shine then linen armor could as well. From personal experiences with 'authentic' linen (i.e. harvested, spun, and woven by hand without machine use or bleaching), it does have a certain shimmer to it and catches light easily giving off the appearance of something polished. And we don't know specifically what Arrian meant by "armor". He could be talking about Alexander's entire panoply, or his breastplate, or his helmet etc. Alexander's helmet often gets mentioned by the sources and is even known to be shiny (Plu., Alex. 32.9). Diodorus also gives Alexander a shield while warding off attacks from the Mallians (17.99.3), this too could be the culprit; although one would have to forgive Arrian (and thus Ptolemy) for omitting this tidbit. Diodorus 17.103.8, which heavily favors Ptolemy, is also left out of Arrian. So the lack of shield mentioned by Arrian is a little easier to digest.
Scott B.
