Thick Heavy Linen Canvas

[Marcus Mummius]

This would not only be suitable for cloth armour such as a linothorax but would also be authentic as a backing for scale armour (at least in the Aegean and Near East).

That's very interesting. It would make scale male an excelent form of defense. Is there evidence that only a single layer of fabric was used in Roman times or is there just no evidence for the backing of the lorica squamata?
What kind of evidence is there for the Aegean and the Near east (historical, archaeological evidence etc..)?

Vale,

[Gaius Decius Aquilius]

There is no evidence to suggest that the linothorax was hardened with glue or anything else. In fact the slim documentary evidence we have suggests that glue was NOT used. Most likely it was made of multiple layers of light linen quilted together.

I agree...

My point was that the rabbit skin glue was, and still is, used to prepare a canvas for painting. (Ugh!) It is somewhat flexible (more so than gesso) and is meant as a medium to hold paint. It also has some waterproofing qualities. If you wanted to paint your lino, or canvas shield surface, or whatever, you glue that surface as a you would use gesso as a primer. Just the outer layer, It does not hold the thing together, the stitching does that. I believe there is evidence of painted fabric armours, so surface preparation is reasonable to assume, since without it, most paints will simply bleed through the rest of the layers. The oldest canvas paintings I know of off hand, (1300 something or another) had surface preparation of some sort. The Chinese even used lacquered paper.

Marcus,
The 3rd century (?) fragment from Carpow is of scale on a textile backing, described as "rough canvas" in some sources. It seems a single layer and has some of the leather edging still attached.

Ralph

[gaiusseptimiuslucianus]

Better off finding the fine flax linen used today for things like tablecloths and quilting 12-20 layers together (depending on the weight of the cloth).

Yes, I would second that. Fine, long staple linen, that is linen made from long fibers, not short slubby ones, is very abrasion resistant and in my experience fine hemp cloth is even more so. I would want to know more about hemp use in the ancient world before I'd recommend it wholeheartedly but I am very positive on it and certainly use it for other timeperiods.

Lucianus

mka L.E. Pearson

[Franklin]

Chuck:
Fabrics-store.com looks incredible! 100% linen in any weight or shade you could imagine. And the prices are rediculously low, AND they send FREE swatches. Laudes to you sir.

Primvs:
Hemptraders.com looks great too. They go as high as 18.5 oz fabric.

I would recommend these sites to anyone.

What's the evidence for hemp within the Roman era? Was it in use at the time? As rope? As woven cloth? Just curious.