Posted on 05/28/2024 4:13:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
An experiment inspired by Homer's description of combat in The Iliad tested the capabilities of the Dendra armour suit from Greece's Bronze AgeModern military volunteers donned replicas of ancient Greek armour and engaged in exercises inspired by Homer's epic poem The Iliad. The demonstration shows how elite Bronze Age warriors could have fought in heavy protective gear during sustained combat.
The experiment's results strongly suggest that the 3500-year-old Dendra armour suit – one of the oldest complete suits of metal armour from Europe's Bronze Age – was indeed suitable for battle. Some scholars have argued that it was merely a ceremonial outfit for the Mycenaean civilisation that once dominated mainland Greece and the Aegean Sea's islands.
Andreas Flouris at the University of Thessaly in Greece and his colleagues recruited modern Greece's Hellenic Marines to wear 23-kilogram Dendra armour replicas as each participant walked, ran, rode on a replica chariot and performed combat moves involving a sword, spear, bow and arrow and even a stone.
These activities followed Homer's descriptions of heavily armoured elite warriors, surrounded by bands of followers, roaming the battlefield, periodically attacking the enemy and retreating to safety behind the main battle lines to rest and eat, says co-author Ken Wardle at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
"Homeric fighting activity was characterised by hit-and-run tactics, a form of physical effort described in modern physiology as 'high-intensity interval exercise'," says Flouris.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Fiberglass actually is used to make ballistic armor.
The Chinese used quilted cotton armor. It could even stop arrows, I think I read.
So did their Grandfathers in World War II, their great great grandfathers in the Civil War, eh cetera. It is probably the most weight that a healthy man can carry for long distances.
Ancient Mycenaean armour tested by Marines for extended combat 43 sec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm2ZR25xU8M
The replica armor is 5 kg heavier than the original.
Ha... Ha... Fallout. They did an excellent job on season 1 though 8 episodes wasn’t enough. Come on season 2.
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