Yes, it is the Osuna type helmet. It's not metallic but organic. It may be made by sinews as Strabo says but it's impossible to know.
Yes, it is the Osuna type helmet. It's not metallic but organic. It may be made by sinews as Strabo says but it's impossible to know.
It's just the reenactment of the stele. I don't know if it's a floppy helmet. It could be related with the sinews, that surely wouldn't be as rigid as the leather. But who knows. I don't know what was the first reenactment of that helmet. However it's accepted by everyone.
Resurrecting a long deceased thread with a new picture. I'm guessing the EB team already knows about it, but I think it's kind of interesting and it wasn't included earlier in this thread.
https://imgur.com/a/G6eGGtx
It appears to be called the "fallen warrior of Osuna" and depicts a warrior standing over who is likely an enemy. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the work is missing, including the top half of the victorious (or least having the upper hand) warrior. The victorious warrior appears to have pteryges displayed over his tunic, which would imply he is wearing an organic (likely linen) armor. I also find it interesting because of his greaves. I don't know what they were made of, but I think there were metal greaves occasionally before the EB time period. I don't know when exactly the carving was made.
To pose a new question that I've kind of asked before, where do the organic greaves in EB 2 come from? And why are they so widespread? They seem fairly common in the Iberian units, but are also being used now on the Ligurian units (the brand new Ligurian slingers, I can't even use them yet and I already love them).
Question - how flexible/stiff is Iberian leather armor?
I see that one of the Late Kinnetoi Kallaekoi troopers is wearing a belt over a leather thorax. Is the belt worn with the intention of giving the thorax some shape and relieving pressure from the shoulders, like it would with a mail shirt?
Cool find! Also, how often were greaves made out of organic material? I was under the impression that some sort of metal, bronze or iron, was used for the vast majority of all examples from antiquity. That's at least the case for Greeks, Thracians, Carthaginians, Etruscans, and Romans, I guess. I'd venture to say the Iberian dude here is wearing metal greaves, although it is not clear. I do like the pointy shield boss on the round shield wielded in the left hand of the "fallen warrior" of Osuna. Our EBII models definitely looks true to form, in that case.
I don’t think flexibility is a question that can answered. I’m perplexed that they decided to make the armor on so many Iberian units look so much like leather (and without pteruges). As far as I am aware, there is no indication or evidence for the material being leather, so I don’t think they can tell you how stiff it is. There is Strabo’s indication and an implication by Silius Italicus (not necessarily meant to be accurate, but possibly indicative) of linen used for armor.
Regardless of the material, if it’s anything like the Greek armor it probably has similar stiffness to those. I think the shoulders were at least stiff enough to “stand up” by themselves, as was depicted in art. The material seems to be springy.
Last edited by Hirtius; September 09, 2020 at 10:58 PM.
If the leather isn't hardened in some way, its protective value is dubious, methinks.
These books were recommended to me. I have yet to read them, though.
https://shop.royalarmouries.org/products/leather-in-warfare-attack-defence-and-the-unexpected?_pos=1&_sid=a464221e3&_ss=r&fbclid=IwAR2pWRF4XPqR3AQNWuj2egTwcjWcO3xHlcZFEbbEl-7c64KQmPlbbBExPjU
https://chris-dobson.com/cuir-bouill...QgoTaDBNIGk6AA
Most of the "leather" armor was either rawhide or cuirboili (not to mention it was mostly scale/lamellar to capitalize on the greater stiffness of the smaller pieces). Unhardened, soft tanned leather is basically leather fashion. It's not going to be any more protective than are modern leather clothes.
I prefer to "read" those brownish armaments as dyed fabrics.
Last edited by Satapatiš; September 20, 2020 at 10:23 AM.
Furthermore, I believe that Rome must be destroyed.