Roman Military Equipment: From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome by M. C. Bishop & J. C. N. Coulston

Author:M. C. Bishop & J. C. N. Coulston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Ancient / Rome
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2016-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 124: Third-century equine equipment. 1 Phalera (Banasa); 2 mount (Volubilis); 3 phalera (Zugmantel); 4 bit cheekpiece (Thamusida); 5 mount (Niederbieber); 6 bit cheekpiece (Dura-Europos); 7 buckle (Dura); 8–10 mounts (8 Cirencester; 9–10 Saalburg); 11 buckle (Corbridge); 12–16 pendants (12 Dura; 13, 15–16 Zugmantel; 14 Saalburg).

Figure 125: Graffito of cataphract from Dura-Europos.

Housing II was proportionally longer (L. 1.48 m, W. 1.10 m), with curving extensions at the front which meet across the horse’s chest, and a saddle-opening perpendicular to the spine. The iron scales (L. 60 mm, W. 45 mm) were attached to the fabric backing with leather laces in 19 rows per side.

The Dura trappers compare with armour described by such writers as Xenophon, Arrian and Heliodorus. One Dura graffito shows the full provision of a trapper (parapleuridion), separate overlapping pieces for neck and chest (prosteridia), and a chamfron for the head (prometopidion). A second sketch pictures a frontlet hanging down lower than the trapper. Full Sarmatian and Parthian scale horse-armours are shown on a Crimean gravestone and a relief at Tang-i-Sarvak respectively.93

These horse-armours were primarily a defence against arrows and, for a trained animal, heat-exhaustion would have been a more debilitating problem than the burden of weight. Standard equipment for wealthy cavalry in Partho-Sassanid armies, its use was emulated by Roman troops from at least the early 2nd century AD. In the 3rd century, heavily-armoured cavalry (catafractarii) were taken into Italy by Maximinus Thrax, and were prominent in Palmyrene armies.94

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