Macedonian Phalanx Illustration

[MeinPanzer]

I have this information from Nick Sekunda, but he has it from Polyaenus, Book IV.3.13

Alexander gave half-breastplates [hèmithorakia] to the soldiers instead of breastplates, so that if they stood firm they would be safe because their front parts were covered, but if they fled they would be unable to brotect their backs. Accordingly, no one fled lest he be without armor, but they always stood firm and conquered.

Nor Nick, nor me agree with the reason given for the adoption. I personally don't think that the half-armour covered only the front. See my earlier post.

I always assumed that the hemithorax was the often much shorter form of linothorax that can be seen in some iconographic sources. It seems very questionable that it would only cover the front, unless it had metal plating in the front but not in the back or something like that.

According to Sekunda the purple colours were faded almost to gray. Some might have been gray.

The analysis of the paint while it was still very well preserved by Reinach and Hamdy-Bey showed that it was purple.

On the sarcophagus the helmets are painted blue. They, however were of bronze rather then iron.

How do you know they were of bronze? They have some bronze detailing (in yellow), but you can't prove that they were bronze.

And some were peinted red. Therefore the blue was probably meant to indicate paint as well.

The near-contemporary Aghios Athanasios paintings show weapons and armour painted blue, including spearheads. Blue was also used to represent iron in other sources since the time of the Assyrians. Unless you think that they painted their spearheads, it seems that the helmets on the Alexander sarcophagus were iron.