11-04-2006, 08:26 PM
Hello,
I've been scouring the Internet for some information on Greek armor, and this looked like the place to go, so I thought I'd ask a quick question:
I have seen a few reproductions of a "Greek Leather Cuirass" being sold by online retailers. For example, this one and this one.
Was such an item of armor ever actually used, and if so, are these even vaguely accurate recreations? Or would leather armor be more similar in form to the linothorax?
I know that Victor Davis Hanson's The Western Way of War does give a brief mention of "lighter versions" of armor appearing in the 5th century BC, made of "bronze or even leather and fabric" (Chapter 6, under the section about the breastplate). What I'm not clear on is whether this is just a reference to the linothorax, or to two separate types of armor: one of leather, and one of fabric.
I generally don't trust the retailers' descriptions of the history and accuracy of their product, and all of the reenactment sites I've seen don't seem to mention much about leather armor, so I thought I'd present the question here.
Thanks,
I've been scouring the Internet for some information on Greek armor, and this looked like the place to go, so I thought I'd ask a quick question:
I have seen a few reproductions of a "Greek Leather Cuirass" being sold by online retailers. For example, this one and this one.
Was such an item of armor ever actually used, and if so, are these even vaguely accurate recreations? Or would leather armor be more similar in form to the linothorax?
I know that Victor Davis Hanson's The Western Way of War does give a brief mention of "lighter versions" of armor appearing in the 5th century BC, made of "bronze or even leather and fabric" (Chapter 6, under the section about the breastplate). What I'm not clear on is whether this is just a reference to the linothorax, or to two separate types of armor: one of leather, and one of fabric.
I generally don't trust the retailers' descriptions of the history and accuracy of their product, and all of the reenactment sites I've seen don't seem to mention much about leather armor, so I thought I'd present the question here.
Thanks,
David Donovan