Linothorax design/construction

[PMBardunias]

There is nothing to suggest that between the layers of linen there was bronze plates.Other than Secunda's interpretation,based on Philip's armor.

And logic. The idea that hoplites went from full bronze thorakes to textile thorax protection, and yet kept at this early date such soon to be superfluous pieces of armor like thigh guards seems suspect to me. One reason to do this is that you can have thicker plates, or two plies of them, over the front of the body, while shedding the uneeded weight of bronze around places like the upper chest and shoulders. Also, if you were to use iron plates you'd have to do something other than a full cuirasse.

I actually have not read Sekunda on this matter, where did he write this?

Since I haven't read him I can't comment, but I don't think that the vergina cuirasse is anything like the plates beneath a lino-thorax. What that armor is, is a lino-thorax rendered in metal. The real linothorax would have been a textile support for smaller plates. In fact if we look back at the quote about "Neo-linen", could that be interpreted as meaning that the linen shell had been freshly replaced over recycled plates? This must have been done regularly.

Fortunately, scales are clearly not painted as is clear from many sculptures,some of which are very reliable

I wasn't clear. I don't say that the scales on armor are painted on. I'm saying that the choice to use scales on the outside of the shell may at times have had more to do with fashion than protection. When we see a plain front and scales on the sides of the body this to me is a problem unless we accept that there is a metal plate in the front. Either they are more heavily armoring the sides of the body- especially unlikely on the left- or there is an unseen metal plate. If you say that the front is armored with quilting and argue it's superiority to metal, then explain why they did not just quilt the sides? Also we commonly see a band of scales or some material running just below the ribs. This makes sense if it is protecting a joint in the plates beneath, otherwise is it simply decorative.