Like you, I consider Herodotos to be my favorite ancient historian. (He doesn't just tell a great yarn; he is also a decent critical historian, saying, "I saw this myself" or "so I have been told, but it's a load of rubbish".) When describing the mustering on the Hellespont, he gives us a look at the incredible diversity in the Persian forces, describing how some are armed and dressed. It is quite a vivid image.

Later though, he mentions -- I think at both Thermopylai and Plataiai -- that Persian forces carried wicker shields and wore no armor. This has always bothered me, since it seems rather unlikely. Certainly, the Persians knew about armor and it seems to me that figures in many of the reliefs from the period are wearing what looks like armor. I have speculated that perhaps they were wearing something that the Greeks simply didn't perceive as armor, quilted padding or some such. Any thoughts here?

On a related topic, we recently had a discussion regarding the Immortals and the nature of their name. I understand that the current thinking is that this is a mistranslation and they were more likely the "Companions". The apples on the spear hafts are also supposed to play a role here. Perhaps you could summarize for us?