Question about greek armor

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Aquilius
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Question about greek armor

Post by Aquilius »

What body armor was worn with the Greek corinthian helmet? If you have pitures they would be much appreciated.
jamesn_13
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Post by jamesn_13 »

I believe a bronze cuirass along with greaves was worn with a corinthian helm.

James
Aquilius
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Post by Aquilius »

jamesn, would that be a muscle cuirass or lorica segmenta? Also what type of weapon would be used by the soldier?
chef de chambre
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Post by chef de chambre »

It is the classic bronze muscle /bell cuirasse, also was worn with classic linen layer and glue cuirasse, and ditto with scales.

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Jason Grimes
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Post by Jason Grimes »

Hi Aquilius,

Here is a scan from Peter Connolly's "Greece and Rome at War".

Spartan Picture

It depicts a Spartan hoplite c. 500 B.C. It shows the bronze greaves that jamesn wrote about and the linen cuirass that chef wrote about. The weapons carried are the long spear and a sword. He is also wearing his Argive shield on his back. Hope this helps..

Jason
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[This message has been edited by Jason Grimes (edited 08-31-2003).]
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ushumgal
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Post by ushumgal »

The linen cuirasse was called a linothorax. Here is someone's reconstruction of one:

http://www.larp.com/hoplite/linothor.html

The Corinthian helmet had, to the best of my knowledge, gone out of use by the time the Romans developed lorica segmentata.

Kalba


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[This message has been edited by ushumgal (edited 08-31-2003).]
lacheadon
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Post by lacheadon »

The bell curias was really more of an earlier thing as I understand. The linothorax was made of about 30 layers of linen glued together.

Mathew Amt's site really is what you want.
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Post by Egfroth »

That "Spartan" is not wearing a Spartan helmet, which was conical, with an open face. That helmet's Corinthian, though it seems to have been used by the Athenians as well. Most city states had their own helmet types, quite different from each other.

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Post by Owen »

The Corinthian was long gone, replaced by the Attic type, which itself was long gone (except for possible specials), by the time the lorica segmentata came into use.

Matt's website is a great place to start. I've handled the linothorax, it actually feels like fabric-covered plastic! Image

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sarnac
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Post by sarnac »

I have always wanted to try that just to see what it performed like...
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Post by chef de chambre »

Hey Egroth,

Actually, it depends on [b]when[/i] you are talking about. The Spartans wore plenty of corinthian helmets during the war with Persia, as did most Greeek city-states, the main variant at that time was the Attic, and the Athenians wore "Corinthians" as well - Greek art from each city state is filthy with images of the helmet type.

When the Peoponisian wars began - that was when the change really began - not because of city identification, but because the classic form of Hoplite warfare underwent change, with the inclusion of large numbers of skirmishers (peltasts) that were well armed for the first time. The Hoplight gear lightened up, and helmet forms were adopted that increased peripheral vision.

The Attic helmets were used all over, and were especially popular in Italy amongst the various tribes (Octians, Samites, Etruscans, as well as the Early republic), in a modified form called 'italo-attic'). The Thracian form became the model that was most widely used in the hellenistic world, with a number of varieties - it was a variant most commonly used by the Macedonian phalanx. During and after the peloponisian wars, the Spartans wore the little conical helm most commonly, as did the Beotians and Thebans - it wasn't limited to the Spartans.

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Post by lacheadon »

I have pic of a period greave and breast and back if you would like me to send it through, or if someone can host it?
Aquilius
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Post by Aquilius »

if you could e-mail that to me lacheadon
it would be much appreciated. my emails bowieboy80@hotmail
lacheadon
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Post by lacheadon »

Hmm, it doesn't like you email address. Is it meant to be a .com after it?
Aquilius
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Post by Aquilius »

yeah there is a .com
lacheadon
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Post by lacheadon »

nope, still doesn't like it. Send me an email, my adress is in my bio, and I will see if I can reply to it.

Why is it you are interested?

There is also a yahoo groups called phalanx if you are interested.
Aquilius
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Post by Aquilius »

how do i access the bio?
lacheadon
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Post by lacheadon »

That little head and a question mark above every message.

Just send it to lacheadon@yahoo(dot)com

Cheers
lacheadon
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Post by lacheadon »

OK. It is (finally) sent.
lacheadon
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Post by lacheadon »

No, I lied. It didn't get through. I have no idea what the problem is between our two emails, however it is just not happening.
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