Linothorax design/construction

[Paullus Scipio]

This thread has progressed mightily while we in the Antipodes slept !!
Forgive me for going back a little.....
Geala said

a hint to the burning of the old armours of Alexanders soldiers (I don't know the source, but I have read about it), after they received new armour. You can perhaps burn leather armour but you can much better burn linen armour.

This is a reference to the re-equipping of Alexander's heavy infantry, in India, referred to by Diodorus (17.95.4 ) and Curtius (9.3.21)

At this juncture there arrived from Greece allied and mercenary troops under their own commanders, more than thirty thousand infantry and a little less than six thousand cavalry.4 They brought with them elegant suits of armour[panoplia] for twenty-five thousand foot soldiers, and a hundred talents of medical supplies. These he distributed to the soldiers.

Curtius adds the detail that the panoplies were furnished with gold and silver, and it is likely that this is where the "Silvershields" acquire their name.The old suits were burnt, probably shields and all. I don't think the fact that linen burns better then leather is relevant, else we should postulate paper armour !
BTW, this narrative shows that the whole of the phalanx and Hypaspists were equipped with body-armour, at least for this part of the campaign and almost certainly earlier , and contra those who postulate that part of the phalanx was 'light' and didn't wear body armour.......