Linothorax design/construction

[Duncan Head]

So ignoring the "linothorax" red herring. Is there any textual evidence that Greeks used linen armour in the classical period?

There's the Sophokles Epigonoi quote on woven "breastplates" that we've had before - see the article available at http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/new ... ndent.html . The fragment includes the lines:

"And the helmets are shaking their purple-dyed crests, and for the wearers of breast-plates the weavers are striking up the wise shuttle's songs, that wakes up those who are asleep."

And there's Nepos on Iphikrates' linen cuirasses, and Herodian on Caracalla's re-enactment of Alexander's phalanx in linen armour.

Which is not a lot: all these are either heroizing (the Sophokles) or very late sources.