Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas

[Dan Howard]

The objections to laminated linen armor seem to be that there is little literary or archaeological evidence to confirm it and that it would be impractical in any event.

It definitely isn't impractical. Quilted layered linen is by far the most common form of textile armour. It was used in Asia, India, the Middle East, and Europe over a long period of time. In addition, whenever leather is used in conjunction with textiles, it is almost invariably used only as a protective cover with the linen layers underneath providing the protection. I am pretty sure that the Myceneaans used layered linen armour. I am not so sure about the Classical or Hellenistic periods. I doubt that glue was used in its construction for two reasons. Firstly, there is no precedent for its use in any culture that I can find. Secondly, my tests against various samples indicate that quilted layers actually provide better protection than the same number of glued layers.