Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas

[Dan Howard]

That's a leap in logic. Herodotus describes Persian iron and bronze helmets, neither of which would be strange to Greeks except that the cut was outlandish. So Htd., Xenophon, and Plutarch could mention foreign linen armour because linen armour was strange, or because the cut was strange, or the decoration on the armour was remarkable, or because barbarian soldiers are strange. I believe Herodotus mentions a few examples of barbarians leather armour too although I can't find one in the Catalogue of Nations.

Well said Sean. This is a perfect example of only putting forward one possibility based on one's agenda. Lawyers need to do this but it is not a particularly useful trait for a historian. Never have I said that the Greeks did not use leather armour. Always I've said that there is no evidence for it. Recently I've amended that to agree that leather scale was likely worn. Regarding the so-called linothorax - when the iconographical, textual and physical evidence is taken together then we can definitely say that the Greeks used a "tube and yoke" style armour and that the most likely material from which it was made was multiple layers of linen - especially if the Patas report agrees with what we have been told by witnesses.

We have no idea whether that armour was called a "linothorax" but it is a decent abbreviation for "tube-and-yoke style Greek armour made of layered linen". It has previously been asked "why would the Greeks call it a linothorax if it wasn't made of linen?" This question is pointless since we don't know that it was even called a linothorax during the time period in question. It might be a good idea to use a different term to call reconstructions made of metal or leather. Linothorax simply means "linen armour".

FWIW the Patas find is alleged to be much larger that the earlier fragment found at Mycenae and includes part of the border. The latter one is too small to identify as anything other than layered linen. It could simply be a folded linen cloth but the second find at Patas makes it more likely that the Mycenae find was also from linen armour.