Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

I agree with Rhry,that some time now people have alaborated a lot on the different reasons that indeed leather was the construction matterial of that kind of armour. Well, it is good that people have started testing and comparing different kinds of leather,but again it is not certain at all that linen is ruled out. Linen is mentioned as armour more frequently than leather and one can only asume in what context,but in addition to the fact that people in this list have actually seen late mycenean linen armour...it is not wise to go to the other end than the previous state.
Also in sculpture there are indeed depictions of usually late classical pteryges that are clearly not leather. I'm speaking about the long,thin,soft pteryges. Lets remind that there are only rumors about leather pieces that could belong to armour to have been found in macedonian graves and no one has ever seen them or has information on their thickness or size. The information that was being mentioned here i think first by Paullus for a long time but only recently seems to have been noticed by everybody is that a lexicon of the second century AD(am i correct?) said that spolas is a thorax of leather touching (attached to) the shoulders,and quotes Xenophon to be using the word "spolas" instead of "thorax". This is GREAT find, but it simply is not conclusive as Paul states.
First of all, Pollux's phraze doesn't make it clear if Xenophon used the word "spolas" in some case instead of the word "thorax",which would mean that spolas is a kind of thorax. Instead,Xenophon could have said "and (he was wearing) a spolas instead of thorax" which means that a spolas is something different than a thorax(cuirass). And again,the statement that "thorax" is a word that meant only metal cuirass does not have any base. For i can assure that the word thorax means like today the human torso and in extension anything that covers it. I can also assure that it was being used since mycenean times if not earlier to mean body armour and we know that myceneans didn't use only metal for body armour.
So the best answer is that we're still at a loss concerning the matterial of this kind of cuirass, but in any case both theories of linen and leather have a strong base and nothing is conclusive. The combination of the two matterials is not supported by any evidence. Their usage together by re-enactors was made for convenience in construction.
Khaire
Giannis