Flap armor

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A Greek hoplite reconstruction drawing

The armor with flaps was developed in ancient Greece and was originally a breast armor made of linen fabric (Greek linothorax : linen armor ), but was also made of other materials (such as leather and later bronze ). The linen flap armor was made by gluing several layers of linen on a shape that mimicked the body contour. The surface was smoothed, painted and decorated. The valve armor was also depicted on vases by the Amasis painter .

The body armor was open on the left side and had wide moveable shoulder pieces that could be folded back to put on. Due to the elasticity of the material, the wearer could push himself through the side opening into the armor. Then the opening was tightened with leather straps or buckles and thus placed closer to the body. The broad shoulder pieces were then folded over the uncovered shoulders and these tied on the chest.

Due to the material, the armored armor had a poorer protective effect, but it had a considerable weight and cost advantage over metal armor. In addition, it was closer to the body than the rigid bell armor when it was created. In Roman times, officers often wore such shapes, however forged from bronze and richly decorated, as a special form of representative muscle armor .

literature

  • Adolf Furtwängler : Kleine Schriften , 2nd volume, Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich, 1913.
  • Arnold Hagemann: The Greek metal armor. Teubner, Leipzig 1913, ( digitized ; Freiburg (Breisgau), university, dissertation, 1912).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adolf Furtwängler : Small writings , page 494