High crests

[Anonymous]

Yes, Gioi, that chap's beard is trimmed like mine, but his nose is a lot straighter and more pointed! It's an interesting picture - the greaves aren't the same colour as the linothorax and I wonder if this is meant to suggest that they are of iron. The helmet is painted black, as we've been thinking they might. I'm also struck by the fact that the pteryges are a different colour than the body armour, which might suggest they are quite separate from it. Do you know the date it's supposed to be from and where the illustrator got his evidence? I think that, given men's inclination to experiment, there was probably great variation in the way armour was made and decorated, so that we might justify a great many things on the simple basis that they were possible, but provenance is always nicer - especially if someone with a dangerous amount of knowledge starts telling you what's wrong with your kit!

Thanks, all for the birthday greetings. Fifty-three, not out!

Susanne, is that a formal entry? I have the Golden Apple all ready...

Cristina, it takes more than a white peplos to make a lady, as Achilles discovered! (Or possibly didn't as they wouldn't have been in fashion in his day - whatever. Am I bovvered?)