09-11-2007, 08:26 AM
I think, we had this discussion before. 
Paul, your conclusions go a bit too far for me. It is possible that the denominations of the armours by the ancient authors don't have the system that we like to have.
We see the tube-and-yoke cuirass coming in use in the 6th c. BC. We have a list of hoplite stuff from Alkaios (should be Alc. fr. 54, I don't own this source myself), where he mentioned "thorrakkes...neo lino". We see that in many black figured vase paintings the new cuirass is shown in plain white (white is otherwise only used for female faces), which can be interpreted as bleached linen - the new armour material should be highlighted. We have sources for the cultivation of flax in Greece and we have trade with foreign regions where flax was grown. For me that is enough to conclude that at least a good part of the tube-and-yoke cuirasses were made of linen.
We have seen in the discussion that Xenophon used "thorax" also for non-metallic cuirasses. Pollux writes that Xenophon could say "spolas" instead of "thorax". That means logically that the spolas is a form of thorax. It is made from leather. But it is not said that it is just the tube-and-yoke armour. It could also be a form of jerkin which is sometimes shown in vase paintings (although it could often be interpreted also as part of the chiton itself - we had a discussion in the leather armour thread). Or it could be the leather form of the tube-and-yoke armour.
The term "spolas" should be taken with care. In Aristophanes "Birds" (933 ff.) the overgarment of a slave was also named as spolas. That could be a hint to a (leather?) jerkin for protection during hard work. Hesiod tells us that peasants wore a kind of leather garment during work. For me these things are hints that the spolas was a form of simpler leather protection, not necessarily the tube-and-yoke armour. It is only seldomly shown in the art because the art was mainly for the upper classes who were not very interested in such low grade equipment.
I would prefer to keep my point of view that many things were possible and the Greeks did not have only bronze muscle cuirasses and leather tube-and-yoke composite cuirasses, but also linen composite cuirasses and simpler jerkins of perhaps linen and leather for protection.
Btw, in the EB forum (a pc game mod, based on Rome:TW, trying to be as historically accurate as possible, starting at 272 BC) some months ago was a discussion about a quilted linen jerkin as armour for Cretan archers. It was said that pieces of quilted linen of about 350 BC were found in a tomb in Rhodes and that A. Snodgrass believes it to be part of a cuirass. It was however not published then.
Paul, your conclusions go a bit too far for me. It is possible that the denominations of the armours by the ancient authors don't have the system that we like to have.
We see the tube-and-yoke cuirass coming in use in the 6th c. BC. We have a list of hoplite stuff from Alkaios (should be Alc. fr. 54, I don't own this source myself), where he mentioned "thorrakkes...neo lino". We see that in many black figured vase paintings the new cuirass is shown in plain white (white is otherwise only used for female faces), which can be interpreted as bleached linen - the new armour material should be highlighted. We have sources for the cultivation of flax in Greece and we have trade with foreign regions where flax was grown. For me that is enough to conclude that at least a good part of the tube-and-yoke cuirasses were made of linen.
We have seen in the discussion that Xenophon used "thorax" also for non-metallic cuirasses. Pollux writes that Xenophon could say "spolas" instead of "thorax". That means logically that the spolas is a form of thorax. It is made from leather. But it is not said that it is just the tube-and-yoke armour. It could also be a form of jerkin which is sometimes shown in vase paintings (although it could often be interpreted also as part of the chiton itself - we had a discussion in the leather armour thread). Or it could be the leather form of the tube-and-yoke armour.
The term "spolas" should be taken with care. In Aristophanes "Birds" (933 ff.) the overgarment of a slave was also named as spolas. That could be a hint to a (leather?) jerkin for protection during hard work. Hesiod tells us that peasants wore a kind of leather garment during work. For me these things are hints that the spolas was a form of simpler leather protection, not necessarily the tube-and-yoke armour. It is only seldomly shown in the art because the art was mainly for the upper classes who were not very interested in such low grade equipment.
I would prefer to keep my point of view that many things were possible and the Greeks did not have only bronze muscle cuirasses and leather tube-and-yoke composite cuirasses, but also linen composite cuirasses and simpler jerkins of perhaps linen and leather for protection.
Btw, in the EB forum (a pc game mod, based on Rome:TW, trying to be as historically accurate as possible, starting at 272 BC) some months ago was a discussion about a quilted linen jerkin as armour for Cretan archers. It was said that pieces of quilted linen of about 350 BC were found in a tomb in Rhodes and that A. Snodgrass believes it to be part of a cuirass. It was however not published then.
Wolfgang Zeiler
