"Linothoraxes" in the army of Aetius?

[Flavivs Aetivs]

So it is linen armour because it is white?

These shields must be made from linen.

Umm... you can quite clearly see that it's not white from the images. I used the term "Linothorax" in quotation marks due to the shape of the armor in the mosaics, which regardless of whatever it was made of most people will understand what I'm talking about. The quotation marks indicate that I do not think it is actually a Spolas ("Linothorax").

The presence of the Phrygian helmets in the second image makes me want to think its a classicization, though. Many of the helmets are "Greek" style.

I think so too, although some bust(s) of Valentinian (III?) have brought some in the reenactment field to add shoulder pieces to their armours.

No busts, in fact no depictions at all, of Valentinian III survive except through coinage. Possibly the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore depicts Theodosius II, a young Valentinian III, and Galla Placidia, but we cannot say that with certainty.

The first three make me think of a combination of iron and brass/bronze scale or maybe iron mail and brass scale.  But I wouldn't feel confident in any interpretation based on the mosaics alone.

Yeah this is why I've been thinking it's lamellar. There are a ton of examples of combinations of Brass and Iron lames used in different patterns and combinations in lamellar cuirasses from central asia.

Furthermore the second image depicts both scale and maille, which is why I don't think it could be either of those.

~ Aetius