[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[Dan Howard]

I am curious as to why you assert that leather armour in a Graeco-Macedonian context would be 15-20 mm thick ? Do you have evidence for this - I don't know of any - or are you basing this on what thickness is necessary to be relatively 'weapon-proof'?

We know how leather armour was made. We have plenty of examples from all over the world. The only examples that are less than 1cm thick (such as the cuir bouilli tested by Williams) were layered over other armour. Standalone leather armour was generally multi layered and always over 1cm thick.

And regarding thickness of T-Y armors, i think its most likely due to amount of protection these armors would have to provide.. 5-10mm thick would not provide enough of protection, therefore would be inadequate. I guess these would need to provide at least similar level of protection as bronze breastplates,which were typically 1-1.5mm thick, therefore, leather armor of similar protection level would have to be almost 2cm thick. (correct me if im wrong)

Exactly. If I were making a spolas I would use 1 layer of 5-8mm of rawhide or semi-cured hide on the back and shoulders and 2-3 layers on the front (depending on whether the hide was compressed and whether the design was double-breasted).