Theban Army, Battle of Luectra

[conon394]

Plateans were SO POOR people (scripts saying, they fought... barely "naked"), so they would use the "Pilos" helmet.

Plataea was small, but does that equal poor? Plateans had the luxury of farming on the Boeotian plain, I don’t know that they can be seen a necessarily poor. Lacking opportunities for wealth via international trade no doubt kept Plataeans from have a lot of extremely rich aristocrats, but that is not the same thing as the Plataeans of hoplite status being poor (en mass that is compared to another state).

The only literary reference I am aware of where Plataean hoplites fighting naked/ unarmored/semi-armored is Thucydides 3.32.2 and following. I think it is rather clear that the arms and amour of the Plataeans are very much dictated by the nature of the operation: that is trying to launch a surprise night-time breakout attempt against a vastly superior force and escape to Athens, not by poverty.

"Pilos" helmet - as I & Stefanos said - was the MOST cheep helmet you could buy in Ancient Hellas. It was a bronze "replica" of the common... hat of Ancient Hellenes! My Ancient Ancestors used to wear a wool (or baize) "Pilos", not only for protecting their head from the helmet, but also as a "head-cover" (hat) in common/daily use... Of course, they used "Petasos" hat much, but "Pilos" hat was very "widespread" in the poor class citizens...

In its most simple form the Boeotian Helmet was similarly for all practical purposes the same a simple helmet modeled on a hat. I don’t see how would necessarily have been significantly more expensive than a Pilos.

Only Lacedaimonians used to wearing SIMILAR/SAME equipment, because the STATE gave them their weapons/armors

Not the only example. Dionysius I equipped at least parts of his army with state equipment. Considering elite units like the Argive eilektoi or the hieron lochon of Thebes were trained and perhaps maintained at state expense, and operated as discreet units, it seems not to improbable to suggest they had some sort of standardized equipment.

Depending on how you choose to interpret the evidence from Thucydides the Athenians may or may not have used the thetes as marines and who thus would have to be equipped by the state, before the population crunch of the plague.

Generally guys, as Stefanos would probably wrote that long ago to you, Hellenes didn't have a "basic formula" for their weapons... You CAN'T say "hey, they loved to using 'Copis' sword much" or "hey, these fellows like a lot of using 'Linothorax'..."
Hellenes used the weaponry THAT COULD AFFORD to buy!
Was he a rich guy? He would have a SUPERB equipment! (Even in Peloponnesian War, with SO MUCH "innovations" and lack of money, ALKIBIADES worn the FINEST armor of all - as fine as RICH he was!)...

I certainly don’t think my original post ever suggested there was a Theben uniform as such.

edit

The Stoa painting description of Pausanias talks of Beotian shields not helmets. The modern reconstructions were done by using pottery paintings-hardly accurate!

Unless I’m either missing another reference in Pausanias or am just badly misreading it at 1.15.3 I see no reference to Boeotian shields but merely Boeotians from Plataea.

Thus Pausanias does not seem to contradict Apollodoros (dem 59.94).