"A Question about Thorakitai." Topic

The only depiction of a thorakites that I am aware of is the Sidon stele which is generally interpreted as depicting the figure wearing mail armour, but would it be reasonable to assume that linothorax could be used as an alternative given the continued availability of fabric armours in Hellenistic armies.
The term itself seems pretty loose, "cuirassiers" could mean any kind of chest armour after all.

Any opinions welcomed , many thanks HGA.

I disagree. If the linothorax was adequate to be intermingled with bronze cuirasses in the hoplite ranks, it should be adequate to be intermingled with mail amongst the thorakitai.

Doug

I thought it was the mail which differentiated thorakitai from theurophoroi

There are a few representations of men with thyreos and linen-or-leather armour – for example, in later copies of Ptolemaic wall-paintings from Alexandria. They may be thorakitai, just as the Sidon guy with mail and thyreos may be.

Of course, even the identification of that mailed figure as a thorakites is merely an educated guess. (I can say that, as it was my guess.)

Interesting project to reconstruct and test the linothorax: link

Doug

Yes, the book's quite an interesting read. I reviewed it for Slingshot a few issues ago.

Really? How many issues ago? I somehow managed to miss that if it was in the last couple of years. I'll have to go dig through the pile and look for the review, as I've got the book on my wishlist at Amazon.

Doug

It was in issue 288.

Of course the linothorax may be a leatherothorax :)

I suspect Thorax in Thorakitae refers to any armour

It was in issue 288.

Found it. Thanks!

Doug

Another question for GurKhan – does the book discuss much testing against hand weapons? In what I was able to find on the website there was far less info on those results than on the arrow tests.

Doug

Thorakites are armored infantry-- usually subjugated to the role of flank guards. Because of this they are often depicted in games as a kind of heavy peltast, others see them as troops that could perform multiple roles-- formed or unformed, and others simply believe they are a bridge to Romanized style troops.

It's very possible that mail armor is not the only or most common style of armor… since the term translates the same as cuirassier… it could mean many things.

The identification of the stele of the mail clad thorakitai at Sidon is simply the main evidence to reconstruct these fairly rare troops (rare because the majority of non phalanx infantry were usually thureophoroi-- the unarmored equivalent).

But you could have read all of that here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorakites

There is also some useful information at:

link

"does the book discuss much testing against hand weapons?"

No, not much at all.

Of course, if you really want to get the painting right, we know that one Ptolemaic thorakites was "about 40 years old, of medium height, honey-colored, balding on the forehead, with ears sticking out, a scar on the left side of his forehead".

( link )

If you read Bar Kochva's "Seleucid Army", Thrakitae are used for assaulting things and for surprise attacke where shields are difficult to carry (eg climb up a cliff face, over fortification walls etc etc)