Laminated Linen Protected Alexander the Great

Discovery News ^ | September 11, 2010 | Rossella Lorenzi

[decimon]

A Kevlar-like armor might have helped Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.) conquer nearly the entirety of the known world in little more than two decades, according to new reconstructive archaeology research.

Presented at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Anaheim, Calif., the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax, a type of body armor made by laminating together layers of linen.

"While we know quite a lot about ancient armor made from metal, linothorax remains something of a mystery since no examples have survived, due to the perishable nature of the material," Gregory Aldrete, professor of history and humanistic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, told Discovery News.

"Nevertheless, we have managed to show that this linen armor thrived as a form of body protection for nearly 1,000 years, and was used by a wide variety of ancient Mediterranean civilizations," Aldrete said.

[decimon]

And there's a gladiator video.

[decimon]

Alexander’s ragtime band ping.

[cranked]

I suppose these folks forgot that Alexander’s armor was penetrated by an arrow ....that almost killed him. =.=

[Hugin]

I wonder what the thread count was?

[agere_contra]

LOL.

[MrEdd]

And who posted on it :P

/blonde

[Battle Axe]

I’m a weaver and have worked with linen. It is unforgiving and difficult. We made a paste (glue) by boiling the flax seeds and then painting that on the strings of linen to keep them from fraying.

[Celtic Cross]

"the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax"

Old news...

[humblegunner]

Cool!

[mbarker12474]

the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax,

Don't all school girls have to get this mandated vaccine now?

[decimon]

At least you two agree that Pablo is very wily.

[decimon]

the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax,

Don't all school girls have to get this mandated vaccine now?

And in the thorax. Go figure.

[Celtic Cross]

In addition, both Pablo and I agree that humblegunner is not humble, and probably never was.

:)

[Mike Darancette]

I saw one program that showed how layers of silk under garments defeated the ability of an arrow to penetrate deeply.

[decimon]

I saw one program that showed how layers of silk under garments defeated the ability of an arrow to penetrate deeply.

Used by Mongol warriors, I think.

[SunkenCiv]

It went in under his arm, not through the “armor”.

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
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[bigheadfred]

I saw one program that showed how layers of silk under garments defeated the ability of an arrow to penetrate deeply.

You sure that wasn't an ad for...awww...nevermind... ;-))

[SunkenCiv]

I wonder what kind of fabric the Trojans used? ;’)

[wildbill]

There was a program on either the Discovery channel or the History channel that demonstrated this type of armor and how surprisingly resistant it was.