Greek armour

[Anonymous]

As I was reading through my brand new "Greece and Rome at War" (got it for Christmas, was elated!!), I noticed that some Greek armor was made of linen sheets glued together. I was wondering if anyone had any insight into how effective this was at protecting the hoplites?<br>
<br>
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you begin to see every problem as a nail."<br>
<br>
C. Brianus<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/ugaiusbrianus.showPublicProfile?language=EN>Gaius Brianus</A> at: 1/5/02 4:55:22 am<br></i>

[Catiline]

It's lighter and cheaper than bronze which i believe was the major advantage. As with most troops motivation and morale are considerably more important than equipment and as time went on in the 5th century htey progressively stopped using body armour at all relying on their shields and the compact formation, only to start wearing armour again in the 4th century. Matthew Amt is the person to ask he has a reconstructed linen corslet I believe. Follow the link in his signiature to the Legio XX website and there's a link there to his Greek page. <p><i>Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows</i></p><i></i>

[Catiline]

www.larp.com/hoplite/ <p><i>Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows</i></p><i></i>

[Matthew Amt]

Khairete!<br>
<br>
Yup, you guys beat me to it, see my Greek Hoplite Site for info on my linen cuirass. It is a WAY COOL thing, but hell to make! I'm not sure how much cheaper it might have been than bronze, depending on how expensive linen was back then. Ah, the whims of ancient fasions...<br>
<br>
I have not done any penetration tests, though I do have a couple pieces (cut-outs from the armholes) that I can poke and whack at when I have a chance.<br>
<br>
Right now I have just moved to a new house, and would really like to find out where I packed the buttspike to my spear...<br>
<br>
Valete (or Greek equivalent!),<br>
Matthew/Quintus/Mathaios/whatever <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I stumbled upon that site when i was bored one day. You should try to beat around that piece. Also, how hard is it to find linen these days in order to reconstruct the curaiss..? The design looks simple enough, but the materials..?<br>
<br>
These questions are kinda directed at you Quintus, but anyone can have useful info. <p></p><i></i>

[richsc]

Scroll on down Matt's list of suppliers to the fabric section (how about internal anchors matt?)<br>
<br>
www.larp.com/legioxx/supplrs.html<br>
<br>
One example:<br>
<br>
www.wovenfabrics.com/Cott...abrics.htm<br>
'natural wheat linen, 45", 25 yr min. order, @ $3.00/yard" <p>Aulus, Legio XX.
the High Noise, Low Signal person for RAT.
ICQ 940236
</p><i></i>

[Matthew Amt]

Aulus writes:<br>
"how about internal anchors matt?"<br>
<br>
Yeah, yeah, I need to add those to the Suppliers page! But the source I used, MJ Cahn, is listed on the bottom of the Linothorax page of the Greek site. Also 3 bucks a yard, though there's a minimum length you have to buy. I used about 5 yards of white and 10 of "Belgian" natural linen. Add the cost of glue, and it's about $50 for the whole thing, about what metal and rivets cost for a lorica.<br>
<br>
Valete,<br>
Matthew/Quintus <p></p><i></i>