Hemithorakion
A hemithorakion ( Greek ἡμιθωράκιον , from ἡμι "half" and a diminutive of θώραξ "breastplate"; the translation is something like " small half breastplate") was an ancient Greek armor.
description
The hemithorakion did not protect the entire trunk, only the chest . The armor was tied with cords at the back. The hemithorakion, like the linothorax, was often made of linen, but hemp was also used. It was worn by officers in the Macedonian army and served more as a symbol of the rank of an officer than as a real protection. The hemithorakion was therefore often worn in addition to other armor. In a around 200 BC According to the decree from Amphipolis , the failure to put on the hemithorakion in the camp for the hegemonoi , the officers, is punished with a drachma .
The Thessalian tyrant Jason of Pherai is sometimes named as the inventor of this armor, and he is handed down as such by Iulius Pollux .
literature
- Waldemar Heckel , Ryan Jones, Christa Hook: Macedonian Warrior: Alexander's Elite Infantryman . Osprey, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-1841769509 , pp. 15-16.
- Nick V. Seconda: Classical Warfare . In: The Cambridge Ancient History . The Fourth Century BC . Volume 6, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994, ISBN 978-0-521-23349-1 , p. 183.
- Anthony M. Snodgrass: Arms and Armor of the Greeks . New edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore (MD) 1999, ISBN 978-0-8018-6073-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Andreas Benignus Bergsträsser: Biographies of Kornelius Nepos . JC Hermann, Frankfurt am Main 1782, pp. 241–242 note 18 ( Google Books online ).
- ↑ SEG 40.524 .
- ^ Iulius Pollux, Onomasticon 1,134 ( Greek online ).