Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor - New Book

[Dan Howard]

There seems to be some misunderstanding and confusion regarding King Amasis’ gifts, and the use of the word ‘thoraka’. The word can refer to body armour made of any material, but it also has a generic meaning of ‘body protector’ or even just ‘body covering’ e.g. a garment [see LSJ]. Thus, as Paul Bardunias has alluded to earlier, in mythological and archaic times, animal pelts used as protection were ‘thoraka’.

Armour is just as likely an interpretation as anything else. I agree that it was unusual and would have been very expensive. I maintain that cloth made from cords this thick is more likely to have been twined rather than woven. It has nothing to do with Greek armour but we still need to know how eastern linen armour was made and the Amasis passages contribute to the body of evidence.