Linothorax design/construction

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Modern tests(that someone can very well call not scientific) have proven that linen armour can be very well protection against modern iron.The 7th-6th century hoplites wore bronze thorakes, then suddenly there was a massive change towards linen(or leather),why,because it was lighter?But then,heroes,Titans and Gods are depicted in the new armor in sculptures and vases.This does not make sense except the new type of armor could be as luxurious,expensive and well protecting as the older bronze one.And it is perhaps interesting that in some cases(like the temple of Aphaia in Aegina) depicts heroes in armor,but this armor is the new type.On the other hand the Siphnian treasure depicts both types.And this is one of the first depictions of the linothorax.
Paul B. your thinking is based on the given that "thorakas" means only bronze cuirass.I don't see why this is given,since the word existed before the hoplite reforms and I think it existed in Mycenean times,too. You surely cannot claim that the majority of thorakes in that time were bronze,since only one piece of armor has been found that is bronze(the Dendra panoply) and possibly traces of some others.Thorax is a part of the human body,everything that covers that(the chest) is called a thorax.People did not always protect their chest with bronze,so bronze is in no way linked with the word thorax.
Also,the first linothoraxes depicted in art do not have any scales at all.These appear to be an add on,during time.The Siphnian treasure shows plain surface and pottery shows all-white thorakes withe designs that resemble painting or stitching.The linothorax was not designed to be a base of bronze plates,originally.It became so partly and gradually(scales to the left side,to the front,to the pteryges and rarely in all the surface).
Khairete
Giannis