THE ULTIMATE ARCHAIC HOPLITE RECONSTRUCTION

[Agonis]

Hi again,

just to reply to the questions above:

1. the armor is fully made by copper (1.2 - 1.5 mm), mainly for artistic reasons (bronze is another option). Keep in mind that (unlike today's reproductions) ancient armor was usually made of various metal alloys without consistent composition, simply men were casting all available metals to meet war demands

2. the armor represents various armor components that span from 9th century Bc (eg zoma) to 8th (leg/toe protection) to 6th century Bc (bell-shaped armor). All are copies of museum Artifacts or based on paintings / literature.

3. Zoma is mentioned excessively by Homer and some other literature, there are only a few artifacts in Museums (in the form of very large metal belts). We felt free to improvise according to Ilias texts. Homer lived in early-Archaic era (9th century Bc), so we included Zoma in the armor

4. Vambraces and hand protection armor artifacts can be found in museums. Upper hand protection is based on artifact found in Italy (possibly Etruscan)

[Dan Howard]

1. the armor is fully made by copper (1.2 - 1.5 mm), mainly for artistic reasons (bronze is another option). Keep in mind that (unlike today's reproductions) ancient armor was usually made of various metal alloys without consistent composition, simply men were casting all available metals to meet war demands

So can you cite any example from that time period that is made of the same alloy that you used? If not then bronze is not "another option" but "the option".

[Lyceum]

I think Van Wees (1992) and others amply give adequete warning about searching for realia in Homer, its a bad idea. Dan and I here also, I think, have discussed problems with Homer's so called greaves. Not that it matters here exactly.

Just wanted to say that placing Homer in the 9th century is a special kind of madness. By any means, especially as most opinions are swinging towards the 7th (though admittedly I think he's earlier). But...yeah.

I'm really interested in the thigh protection myself. I wonder what this tells us about the combat? I've noticed certain combat traditions make good use of such things where sword fighting is concerned in large due to the ability to beat and move offline then move into the bind wit a low cut. With a shield on the other hand that would be particularly nasty....

[Agonis]

Hi Dan,

Regarding the shield, for our reconstruction we used wood of 1 - 1.2 cm width. Diameter is 90 cm. The total weight with metal parts is 7 kilos.

We tested the shield (as well as the rest of the armor) in "real" battle conditions n Biskupin Festival 2011, where we were performing two 30-minute falanx drills / fights every day. 20 fight shows in 10 days... the shield was heavily damaged and needed extensive repairs on the wood surface: some hits were almost 1 cm deep, the outer ring was disconnected from the main body (held in place only by internal leather...)

The experience was very enlightening though: a (really) strong person with full armor (20 kilos) can effectively use the 7 kilos shield in fight drills for 20 minutes, before looking for some rest. Without heavy armor, around 30 minutes.

I our humble opinion, any heavier Hoplite shield has no real meaning in terms of protection and usability. Of course other people might have other experiences and results.


About copper metal used, you are right: the most accurate option would be a copper/bronze alloy, not the pure copper we used. The decision to use copper was based on artistic and production reasons. We have produced also bronze armor that makes the warrior "shine like God"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/koryvantes/6963297747
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koryvantes/6820917522

We simply wanted to experiment with copper for this armor.

We have plans to use custom alloys in the future, closer to the composition of ancient alloys. We have tested in small scale, following Academic papers, a rather complex and expensive process. The bronze we find in market today is of different composition than ancient alloys, and much more difficult to work for complex items (less elastic, fragile)

Adonis

[Gaius Colletti]

Do you have a cite for this? Reconstructions of both the Fayoum and Doncaster scutums weigh closer to 10 kg. If a man can only fight for 20-30 mnutes with a 7 kg shield then it would seem that a 10kg shield is not practical in battle at all.

Dan are you seriously comparing using a scutum to an aspis? They are both shields, but that is the only similarity, they are constructed differently, from different materials, and are most importantly held differently. On top of that, the soldiers using their respective shields had vastly different types of armor that would contribute to maneuverability and attrition differently

[Dan Howard]

I'm saying that the Romans managed to wield a 10 kg shield in one hand in battle.