Book Review: Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armour by Gregory S Aldrete, Scott Bartell and Alicia Aldrete

Abstract

Everyone knows that the Ancient Greeks wore bronze armour. Examples have been excavated, mentioned in the literature and depicted on vases, statues et cetera. But there is also mention of something they called 'linothorax': literally, 'linen chest', meaning linen armour for the chest. The very idea of using linen as armour has been dismissed by academics for decades on the grounds that cloth is useless as armour. It took someone willing to look at the evidence to propose the hypothesis that linen could be used to construct viable armour and what it would need to be proof against.

Keywords

• war
• textile
• iron age
• greece
• book
• review