05-12-2007, 11:18 AM
Well, here at last is the evidence summary I mentioned in an earlier post. It has taken a little while as it has involved scouring the literature, and artistic evidence.
I began, not by seeking to argue that linen thorakes did not exist in the period of the classical Hoplite and Macedonian era, merely that there is good evidence to suppose that the ‘tube-and-yoke’ body armour was more commonly, or more likely to be, made of leather or similar.
I agree with Duncan Head ( an old friend, though we have not been in touch for many years ) that we simply do not know for certain. As with virtually all things ancient, the evidence is fragmentary, scanty and occasionally contradictory.
Let us start by abandoning what we “thinkâ€
I began, not by seeking to argue that linen thorakes did not exist in the period of the classical Hoplite and Macedonian era, merely that there is good evidence to suppose that the ‘tube-and-yoke’ body armour was more commonly, or more likely to be, made of leather or similar.
I agree with Duncan Head ( an old friend, though we have not been in touch for many years ) that we simply do not know for certain. As with virtually all things ancient, the evidence is fragmentary, scanty and occasionally contradictory.
Let us start by abandoning what we “thinkâ€
"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
