Questions (linothorax, sandals, Spartan moustache)

[Zenodoros]

The vase painting can't be a Spartan hoplite, for he's not wearing the right tunic. Also, I don't think he's wearing a pilos helmet, just a pilos felt cap.

True, that the Spartan who fought naked was punished, but so was Aristodemus at Plataea (the Spartan who ran away from Thermopylae because of an eye infection) who was fighting very strongly, but in a suicidal matter. He was still wearing armour and was possibly barefoot.

The reason this Spartan was penalized was not for his barefeet, but for his lack of armour and clothing.

Spartan knew that troopers frost bitten or with foot torn by sharp rocks are a liability. So yes they wouldn't go barefoot if they could afford it.

I'm wondering this, but then I'm also wondering why they spent the first 20 years of their life barefoot to toughen up their soles and keep their bodies fit and hard. Like I said, they did the krypteia barefoot, even during winter. Spartan stories such as the tale of the boy who hid the fox under his tunic which clawed deep into his heart and still didn't show any sign of pain suggest that they practiced challenges like this frequently, even if simply to walk barefoot in the rocky Greek terrain (although I think Lakonia was softer and more fertile than most other areas at the time).