indeed most, of the cuirasses were without collars; in some the sleeves were rather longer, reaching nearly to the elbow, and they were worn both by heavy infantry and bowmen. The ordinary cuirass may have been little less than two feet and a half in length: it sometimes covered the thighs nearly to the knee; and in order to prevent its pressing heavily upon the shoulder, they bound their girdle over it, and tightened it at the waist. But the thighs, and that part of the body below the girdle, were usually covered by a kelt*, or other robe, detached from the cuirass; and many of the light and heavy infantry were clad in a quilted vest of the same form as the coat of armour, for which it was intended to be a substitute; and some wore corselets, reaching only from the waist to the upper part of the breast, and supported by straps over the shoulder, which, to judge from the sculptured representations of them, appear to have been faced with metal plates. † Among the arms painted in the tomb of Remeses III., at Thebes, is a piece of defensive armour‡, which, from the hollowed space left for the arm, seems to have been a sort of coat, or covering for the body; and were it not so highly ornamented, might be considered a vest, or μrp, worn beneath the cuirass. It is made of a rich stuff, worked, or painted, with the figures of lions and other animals, devices common upon the shield and other parts of Greek armour, and is edged with a *The Zopa, or worng, of the Greeks. Vide fig. 8. plate 3. neat border, terminating below in a broad fringe; and though there is no appearance of metal plates, it may have been intended as a substitute for the more weighty coat of mail, which was not worn on all occasions either by infantry or charioteers. The Greeks in like manner made some thoraces of hide, hemp, linen, or twisted cord. Ajax, the son of Oïleus, from his having worn one of these, is styled by Homer Linothorêx: Alexander, according to Plutarch, had a double thorax of linen; and Cornelius Nepos tells us that Iphicrates ordered his soldiers to lay aside their heavy metal cuirass, and to go to battle in hempen armour. ARMS OF DIFFERENT CORPS. Heavy-armed troops were furnished with a shield and spear; some with a shield and mace; and others, though rarely, with a battle-axe, or a poleaxe, and shield. They also carried a sword, falchion, curved stick or lissan, simple mace, or hatchet, which may be looked upon as their side-arms. † The light troops, who were not archers, had nearly the same weapons, but their defensive armour was lighter; and some were without the incumbrance of a shield, as the slingers ‡, and a few others, whose duty required great agility, and who fought in scattered parties, like the Velites of the Romans. The arms of the bowmen have been al * Homer, Il. 3, 529. : ..... “Οιληος ταχυς Αιας ολιγος μεν την, λινοθώρηξ. Vide wood-cut, No. 47. Vide wood-cnt, No. 36. |