Alexander in Kevlar....

[bobbin]

and that he spoke russian!

[Skullheadhq]

THAT'S WHAT I CALL A BREAKTHROUGH!

[Gustave]

Bah ! It's still instructive for those who never heard about linothorax .

[Skullheadhq]

Presented at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Anaheim, Calif., the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax, a type of body armor made by laminating together layers of linen.

...have achieved some very convincing results...

Sherman told Discovery News.

They made it sound like they found out that Alexander used Linothorax, which is simply not true, very unprofesional.

[alexanderthegreater]

Nothing new, but interesting article nonetheless. Wasn't the flexibility of the material one of the things that gave such great protection against arrow (ie "bending in" absorbing the shock of the arrow)
That wouldnt have been great in melee though since the force behind a sword/spear is constant (people keep pushing it) and would break through.
Could we speculate that linen armor was the tool for the task in the archer-happy east that Alexander fought in?
Wouldnt be as bad in the hot climate as bronze armor as well.

[bobbin]

No it's the layered nature that makes it so effective, the layers of linen dissapate energy much more effectively than a hard shell of metal. Modern composite armours work on a similar principle

[ARCHIPPOS]

ermmmmm, i thought i read somewhere (but can't remember where) that chinese used silk and hardpaper armours in a similar way...

[bobbin]

I've heard of silk being used as a undergarment to reduce the damage of arrow wounds, because of its high tensile strength it doesn't tear easliy when struck by a arrow and so is pushed into the body with the arrowhead, this allowed the arrow to be extracted much easier that would normally be the case (in ancient times it was not uncommon to actually push the arrow straight through to the other side as pulling it back out was so tricky).

[A Very Super Market]

Pushing an arrow straight through would only be a good idea if it got stuck in your arm or something. And even then, why would you do more damage to your own body? After the battle, there would be more than enough time for careful surgery.