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Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas
These references to Asiatic/Middle eastern thorakes linous have been discussed on previous threads in detail. Like you, I think it is significant that Pausanias mentions NO such linen thorakes in his descriptions of Greek sites, and that this one is in Asia Minor, where we know from Xenophon that such items existed. That Carthage would use such items is no surprise either. In Gelon's time, Greek/Hellenistic influences hadn't yet taken hold in Carthage, and she looked to the Middle-East/Phoenicia.

There is another reference to Linen corselets in the literature - Strabo describes Lusitanian warriors ( in Portugal) armed with javelins and caetra(small circular shields) having sinew caps/headgear and linen corselets. A statue from Osuna seems to have a layered/quilted garment which may represent such a warrior in linen corselet ( though Osuna is the wrong side of Spain for Lusitani !! ). Linen corselets could well have been introduced to Spain via Carthage, which had contacts with Spain going back to Homeric times.

...and I agree with your views on what these mentions/references imply - namely that such things were worthy of comment because they were foriegn/alien.
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)

"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
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Re: Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas - by Paullus Scipio - 07-30-2009, 01:58 AM

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