pothos.org

It has always been a dream of mine to construct a linothorax based off the one Alexander wears in the famous Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii. The first linothorax I made was only loosely based off Alexander's and mostly because of monetary reasons. I have included an image of the first linothorax I made (the helmet and shield are not mine, unfortunately). This time around I was able to invest a bit more money in the materials. It took me quite a while to find the items and materials I was looking for; some were a perfect match while others were as close as I could get. Overall I am very happy with the end product and feel satisfied I have accomplished a goal of mine that began close to five years ago. Here are a few views of the finished Alexander Mosaic linothorax:

Just out of interest- what materials did you use? I'm a little bit in experimental archaeology and reenactment things and now doing pre-viking age underarmour padding (according to some drawings on helmets), but I have linothorax listed as my next project, so I'm quite interested in your project!

Sandra wrote:Just out of interest- what materials did you use? I'm a little bit in experimental archaeology and reenactment things and now doing pre-viking age underarmour padding (according to some drawings on helmets), but I have linothorax listed as my next project, so I'm quite interested in your project!

The main body and shoulder piece were made out of about 15 layers of linen, and then glued together using modern PVA glue (I used Elmer's glue). The "leather" on the chest is vinyl.

Aside from the elmers glue of course. Is the amount of layering and materials used pretty accurate historically speaking? Great job by the way. I've had the same idea for quite awhile but never got around to it. Do you have the bottom garment? Or whatever it may actually be called?

spitamenes wrote:Aside from the elmers glue of course. Is the amount of layering and materials used pretty accurate historically speaking? Great job by the way. I've had the same idea for quite awhile but never got around to it. Do you have the bottom garment? Or whatever it may actually be called?

Thank you! I've also made a linothorax laminated with rabbit glue (dried rabbit fat rehydrated with water), so this would be very historically plausible/accurate. I do have the under garment (called a 'chiton') that I made. As far as the amount of layers it's hard to say. The sources really don't say anything about how many layers it iwas constructed of or if it was even made by laminating "x" amount of layers with glue. Only two sources (that I know of) mention anything about layers, they refer to "two-ply" and "three-ply" linen armor; but they are very vague and probably do not refer to the actual layers. The references could also be translated as "doubled" and "tripled" linen armor, so there is a lot that is unknown.