My Cataphract Weighs a Ton!

[chukissaki]

Well, I'm still working on my own version of the full horse-armour, which will be slightly different from the above posted one. The main body is already finished though and (in my opinion) a good representation of one of the Dura housings. Scales are of the same size and thickness as the originals, although modern brass. The garnent has 3400 scales in it and weights only 16kg.

I love the lamellar thigh armor. Do you have any better pictures or details of how you built yours ?

[jvrjenivs]

They are based on the finds from Dura europos, where two sets of these pieces were found together with the horse-armour, as mentioned above. You can find a detailed description with very helpful drawings in the Dura report by Simon James, which is freely available from Ethos.

[chukissaki]

Thanks !!!

[John Conyard]

The Dura thigh guards are probably from a non-Roman tradition, and while I wear them like chaps some believe them to be crinets for a horse as discussed above. They consist of overlapping lames attached to each other by leather lacing, each thigh-guard using its own distinct lacing method. They defend against horizontal blows and strikes from above, presumably from enemy cavalrymen and arrows. The armour is a form of lamellar, the lacing method and materials used result in a flexible armour, fitting over the knee and protecting from the waist to the shin. Each scale would have been treated using heated wax or oil, toughening it and shrinking it at the same time. Such armour is light to wear and easy to repair. They are certainly very light and while the hardened lames survive very well the laces do stretch a little each year.


I think they are somewhere on page 4 on http://comitatus.net/galleryarmour.html

They do not add very much to the weight of the rider.

[Vindex]

Thanks Robert. I think that photograph is one of the best I've ever seen of a reconstruction in this period.

[daryush]

The Dura thigh guards are probably from a non-Roman tradition, and while I wear them like chaps some believe them to be crinets for a horse as discussed above.

Looks like you beat me to it.

Although I prefer to think of them as crinets, if they are half-chaps, they are most probably Parthian or Sassanian. Armoured scale or lamellar chaps and half-chaps crop up a few times in Parthian artwork and I think a few sets attributed to the Scythians or Saka have been excavated in Central Asia / Russia / that sort of area too. The fact that the original seemed to have a fabric (IIRC) cover also makes me think that it is Iranian.

[John Conyard]

A good common design.


[attachment=2974]sawit2lw1.jpg[/attachment]

Although I suspect you have seen this before.

[Targitios]

@John Conyard: Do you use shoulder straps going up from the girdle of your thigh guard reconstruction, like they are often seen on haidate of japanese yoroi? Or are there any remains of something like that at the original?

[John Conyard]

There is little evidence of suspension from the finds, but I followed the iconography of similar armours to tie them to a belt. They are very light and a material belt holds them easily.

[Robert Vermaat]

Thanks Robert. I think that photograph is one of the best I've ever seen of a reconstruction in this period.

Indeed! But even Warren struggled with that last part, the neck. From Jurjen I understand that it's critical, it easily hinders the horse, while at the same time being crucial for it's protection.
I once saw a McBride reconstruction drawing in which not metal, but fabric was used - a bit like a subarmalis. Tough but flexible.

[daryush]

Thanks Robert. I think that photograph is one of the best I've ever seen of a reconstruction in this period.

Indeed! But even Warren struggled with that last part, the neck. From Jurjen I understand that it's critical, it easily hinders the horse, while at the same time being crucial for it's protection.
I once saw a McBride reconstruction drawing in which not metal, but fabric was used - a bit like a subarmalis. Tough but flexible.

There's a type of Turko-Iranian horse armour that I know of from Sassanian and Seljuk times that the Arabs called "tijfaf," which was felt or quilting with applied medallions and tassels. Gorelik has one interpretation in his "Warriors of Eurasia" book. I'm not sure how tough it would be and how well it would stand up to arrows by itself though ... and I'm also unsure if it would be appropriate for a Roman impression, but it most probably existed during the time period.

[Vindex]

Indeed! But even Warren struggled with that last part, the neck. From Jurjen I understand that it's critical, it easily hinders the horse, while at the same time being crucial for it's protection.
I once saw a McBride reconstruction drawing in which not metal, but fabric was used - a bit like a subarmalis. Tough but flexible.

Flexibility of the protection would certainly be key and I have always favoured the argument that there was material of some sort under the armoured protection.

The neck of the horse would certainly by vulnerable and as Jurjen suggests, a stumbling or tripping horse needs to use it's neck as a counter balance to the rest of it's body to stay upright. This includes the ability of the neck to curl inwards (in extremes when the horse's nose is on the ground) as well as flex upwards so fixed plates of any sort would certainly not help.; It would also be very uncomfortable for the horse if that were part of the considerations!

[John Conyard]

Well, flexible and even rigid scale have a material backing. Lamellar stands alone with no material backing but if made from leather would be fine on a horse. I do not think we can doubt the use of flexible scale metal crinets as found at Dura. But they do ned to be made to fit the horse.

Textile horse armours are great fun and there is a shed load of evidence for their use. Caballo was posting some photos on the Comitatus forum yesterday.

[attachment=2980]bagirmi_heavy_cavalry_1820.gif[/attachment]

[Gaius Colletti]

Is Robinson's depiction of a Roman Cataphract outdated now? Aside from the fact that he thought the Italic H was a cavalry helmet, and that he believed that there was thigh guard manica?

Robinson's idea of a Cataphract illustrated by Robert Embleton

[attachment=3191]0226022200.jpg[/attachment]

[Theodosius the Great]

I'm unsure about the style of greaves but the caligae seem anachronistic.

~Theo