Philip of Macedonia Illustration

[Paullus Scipio]

Thanks for the correction, Ruben !!
Must have had Plutarch on the brain, talking about Alexander.
The reference was to Cornelius Nepos ( Roman writer), as you have correctly quoted.The other reference for Iphicrates equipment reforms is Diodorus 15.44. Cornelius gets a couple of details wrong, not just the reference to "chain" armour (BTW, an ingenious explanation to interpret "chain" as scale, but surely he would have said "squamata" if that is what he meant? ).Cornelius says he 'doubled' the length of the spears, which would make them the length of Makedonian sarrissa, 14-16 feet/5 metres and unmanageable with one hand.Diodorus says a more manageable spear (doratos) increase "by half" and sword (xiphos) "twice as long".Alas, Diodorus doesn't mention body armour.
The point is that if Cornelius is right,despite the anachronism, his meaning is clear namely that linen corselets replaced heavier metal ones, or linen-and-metal ones - and your guess that they might have been standard tube-and-yoke corselets is as good as mine ! (The other reason for showing a quilted corselet was editorial - the editor wanted something different, as two colour plates showed standard corselets already.)
Meinpanzer:
"All we know from the literature is that the cuirass was 2-ply. Since Persians are actually more often shown wearing regular linothorakes than quilted cuirasses, I would think it more likely that the cuirass Alexander took to using was regular"
What is the reference to 2-ply? Do you mean Dio Cassius' description of Caracalla's Roman imitation phalangites who are described as having "raw ox-hide helmets" and "3-ply" corselets?
"Since Persians are actually more often shown wearing regular linothorakes than quilted cuirasses, I would think it more likely that the cuirass Alexander took to using was regular"
Definitely not, I'm afraid. Plutarch"Life of Alexander" 32. says "a thickly quilted linen corselet, which had been among the spoils captured at Issus" (penguin translation - which btw also describes the item made by the Rhodian Helicon as a cloak ,not a belt, which he habitually wore in battle - maybe someone with better classical greek could check the original ? )
Giannis:
"Since Persians are actually more often shown wearing regular linothorakes than quilted cuirasses, I would think it more likely that the cuirass Alexander took to using was regular". Not so - see Plutarch's description above. In the "Issus mosaic" the men who surround Darius - his charioteer, the man holding the horse, and the cavalryman with his hand on his head all wear red corselets, which appear to be quilted, edged in white. These are "servants" only in the sense that all the Great King's subjects are his "servants" - they are likely nobles, for example the cavalryman wears a gold torque.
Love your photo references, Giannis, they are very good ! Tks for posting them. The Phrygian iron helmet without cheek pieces is paralled by a similar one in bronze, with two plume tubes (for feathers? ) at the peak, which also seems never to have had cheek pieces.
To Johnny :-
Yes, I wrote all the stuff in "boxes" and the captions and John Warry wrote the main text. All the illustrations were based on my research and sketches for the various artists. The coloured figure plates were all done by my good friend, Jeffrey Burn.
To get back to Alexander's trophy Persian quilted corselet, captured at Issus, one could hardly get a better source than the "Issus mosaic" white edged red ones worn by noble Persians....... that has to be 'the One!'