Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor - New Book

[rocktupac]

Hi Paul, thank you for the respectful reply. A lot has evolved for myself and Aldrete since our work on the book (some that goes back to almost a decade ago now), and we are both very much in the camp that believes linothorakes were probably made in a number of ways: leather, twinned linen, quilted linen, and even probably glued linen. Much has been speculated on -- and many assert that one is more probable than the other -- but the simple fact is we don't know. And that's what gets me; we don't know yet some argue on a subject as if we do know. I know the weak arguments and I know the strong ones.

We plainly say in the book that we don't know how the armor was made: "Whether the layers of these corselets were laminated together with glue or sewn together with thread cannot be determined with certainty. Given the widespread use of this armor and the lack of standardization in the ancient world, it seems safe to say that both methods were attempted." (166) I'm not sure how well some have read the book, but we never say we think it was only one kind of armor. I would suggest some people take another look, they seem to be misunderstanding things.

We also cite this website in the first page of the notes section. Was there something in particular you're talking about? I mean this sincerely, I don't quite know what you are talking about.