Spartan Armor

[Zenodoros]

This is why I particularly mentioned the Dodona statuette rather than others. He does not have any of the 'additional' armour of the late archaic period. I don't see the flanged cuirass being an indication of the statue being made earlier as much as the Spartans keeping with older armour. I'm not saying that the statue was in fact made in 480 BC, but I think the general opinion from any source about it I've read states early 5th century BC, as opposed to during the 6th century like other statues.

There are other things that make me seriously doubt the Spartans were unarmoured in the Persian Wars, namely the intensity of phalanx warfare at the time rather than more dependence on flexibility later in the century, and the fact that the Spartans managed to last so long against archer opponents at Thermopylai.