[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[Dan Howard]

If we had only medieval armour remains and no Ancient Greek metal armour preserved, we would have to speculate that Greek armour must have been made from 3mm thick bronze, plus thick underpadding. We would be completely off.

There are a lot of misconceptions around here about medieval armour. Medieval European underpadding was the same as all other underpadding. It was designed to improve fit and reduce chafing; it wasn't thick enough to provide any protection by itself. European armour ranged in thickness from 1mm like Greek armour up to over 8mm when firearms came on the scene. The human body doesn't change. There are only a few fundamental ways to make body armour and the same basic designs keep popping up again and again over the centuries and they faced similar weapons for most of that time. It is perfectly rational and reasonable to look at other cultures to get an idea of how Greek armour was made.

---

Again, you make a sweeping generalisation without any supporting evidence. If you had said spears and missiles ( including javelins, slingstones, hand thrown stones etc) it would have been closer to the mark.

Spears (including thrown ones) and arrows. This has been the basic level of protection for thousands of years. Anything that can stop these has no trouble at all against a sling shot or stone.