05-20-2007, 07:01 AM
Yassou, everyone !
I have just returned from the "Panyiri", Brisbane's greek community festival - a great day out , lots of greek food, retsina (wine) and culture in the company of thousands, friends old and new.
Alas ( or should that be Ellas ? ), there were no Hoplites present to ask about their armour !!
To Duncan: If you look at the Aristophanes quote, no-one knows for sure what he was referring to - and there have been many guesses from the context.Most lexicons seem to think some kind of leather jerkin, but as I speculated earlier, an old tube-and-thorax corselet would fit the bill - it is consistent with the context, or 'spolas' could be a more generic term. We just don't know, but much work is now being done on deciphering the thousands of documents recovered in Egypt. (If only those early christians had not been so thorough at destroying pagan literature, we might have more to go on today)
To Sean:I would love to get Williams' book ! As I think I said earlier, there is little done on the subject, and test results are often vastly different because each tester's conditions are different.( to be continued on Gianni's new thread) It would be great if you or Dan could post some figures there.
The tube-and-yoke corselet seems to have been introduced around 500 b.c or maybe a little earlier, is common by the Persian wars (490-449b.c.) continues in use throught the next century, continues to be worn by Macedonian and Successor armies, and does not seem to disappear until around 250 b.c. Xenophon's era (circa.400b.c) would appear to be at the earlier end, rather than late.
Are the references to 'thorakes' that you refer to in Herodotus and Thucydides, then ? Some other source? Could you give specifics?
I am looking at several samples of natural linen as I write. The colour I would describe as beige/biscuit/buff. The point is the bright white so often depicted must be dyed/painted whatever the material.
And, no, I don't know why white was such a popular colour ( reflects the sun, therefore cooler, maybe?)
I have just returned from the "Panyiri", Brisbane's greek community festival - a great day out , lots of greek food, retsina (wine) and culture in the company of thousands, friends old and new.
Alas ( or should that be Ellas ? ), there were no Hoplites present to ask about their armour !!
To Duncan: If you look at the Aristophanes quote, no-one knows for sure what he was referring to - and there have been many guesses from the context.Most lexicons seem to think some kind of leather jerkin, but as I speculated earlier, an old tube-and-thorax corselet would fit the bill - it is consistent with the context, or 'spolas' could be a more generic term. We just don't know, but much work is now being done on deciphering the thousands of documents recovered in Egypt. (If only those early christians had not been so thorough at destroying pagan literature, we might have more to go on today)
To Sean:I would love to get Williams' book ! As I think I said earlier, there is little done on the subject, and test results are often vastly different because each tester's conditions are different.( to be continued on Gianni's new thread) It would be great if you or Dan could post some figures there.
The tube-and-yoke corselet seems to have been introduced around 500 b.c or maybe a little earlier, is common by the Persian wars (490-449b.c.) continues in use throught the next century, continues to be worn by Macedonian and Successor armies, and does not seem to disappear until around 250 b.c. Xenophon's era (circa.400b.c) would appear to be at the earlier end, rather than late.
Are the references to 'thorakes' that you refer to in Herodotus and Thucydides, then ? Some other source? Could you give specifics?
I am looking at several samples of natural linen as I write. The colour I would describe as beige/biscuit/buff. The point is the bright white so often depicted must be dyed/painted whatever the material.
And, no, I don't know why white was such a popular colour ( reflects the sun, therefore cooler, maybe?)
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
