08-19-2010, 07:52 PM
What are the circumstances of the find that make the author assume this is armor? Granted, that's often a good first guess with a substantial piece of sheet bronze, but it's not the only possibility! It looks to be about 14 inches long, and is curved top to bottom--that doesn't strike me as any sort of breastplate. At that length, it would have to be curved side to side, to go around the body, and it won't fit high up between the arms. Of course, it's hard to tell for sure which part is supposed to be "up".
It seems to me that if you want metal armor and can afford it, it's not going to be hidden. (Ancient Greece and Medieval Europe don't really compare well, on this point.) Sure, we know that the tube and yoke cuirass was sometimes reinforced by scales, but why assume that could also be reinforced by hidden plates? If you really want to equip troops cheaply and quickly, don't make armor for them!
Sorry to be a wet blanket, here, but it really sounds like a string of assumptions... And at some point we're going to run into people who combine this house of cards with Nick Sekunda's little fantasy about the linothorax being linen-covered iron, and a new unkillable factoid of Greek "coats of plates" will be born.
If it has 4 legs, a mane, and a tail, and says "neigh", there's no need to think "zebra". But at this point all you have is part of a leg and a little hair...
Matthew
It seems to me that if you want metal armor and can afford it, it's not going to be hidden. (Ancient Greece and Medieval Europe don't really compare well, on this point.) Sure, we know that the tube and yoke cuirass was sometimes reinforced by scales, but why assume that could also be reinforced by hidden plates? If you really want to equip troops cheaply and quickly, don't make armor for them!
Sorry to be a wet blanket, here, but it really sounds like a string of assumptions... And at some point we're going to run into people who combine this house of cards with Nick Sekunda's little fantasy about the linothorax being linen-covered iron, and a new unkillable factoid of Greek "coats of plates" will be born.
If it has 4 legs, a mane, and a tail, and says "neigh", there's no need to think "zebra". But at this point all you have is part of a leg and a little hair...
Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
