Greek Helmet/ armour database

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Of course you can't determine the matterial. If you could,now we would know what the t&y was made of with great certainty. You can often determine stiffness though. Especially when you have two matterials with great difference in stiffness to pick from.

My main point about the white colour's usage was that it was used rarely,and especially when the object they painted was white in reality. Thus white hair and painted shields. And my arguement is that although white colour cannot be conclusive,it shouldn't be entirely dismissed,especially when used for a pilos on a greek style vase.

One more point for the spartan piloi being of felt is their name itself. It's been believed that the name "pilos" was borrowed from the felt hat and was used for the metal version too. It would be a "cap out of metal". However,although modern lexicons translate "pilos" as hat/cap, the ancient meaning was specifically of a felt cap. "Pilema" is felt, from the verb "pilo"-to concentrate. The different kinds of "piloi" like the laconian and the boeotian were made of felt, and when a cap was made of other matterial this was indicated in their name, like "kyne"-cap made of dog skin.
The metal cap derived from the laconian pilos was reffered to with a different name by the Macedonians. A completely greek name: "konos". What is our evidence that in the late fifth century the metal conical hemet wasn't called "konos" and that the word "pilos" was used for both?
No evidence,as there is no evidence that the hoplites (at least some of them) weren't entering battle without armour other than their shield.

Last,i would like to point out the lack of a great number of actual finds comparable with the frequency of the appearance of the helmet in artistic representations. The pilos supposedly became the most popular helmet for quite some time after the last quarter of the 5th century,and at times that armies grew dramatically compared to previous eras. Why the number of piloi is so small compared to ,say, corinthian helmets of the 6th century? There are many examples,yes,but the majority of them come from italy,where anyway the helmets more often are shown with crests,feathers etc,and even painted with yellow colour.

So even debatable depictions of the cap in art can have more or less chances of representing some specific matterial and are worthy to be discussed here.
Khaire
Giannis