10-09-2007, 09:54 PM
Quote:Your quote seems to conflict with the point I think you are trying to make.
First off; I don't doubt that a large percentage of horse armor was made from large scales. It is quite concievable that some percentage of horse armor was made from small scales when you add personal vanity and a large purse to the equation. I would consider both positions reasonable.
Your quote allows for the possibility that large scales were incorporated into soldier's body armor.
Now about depictions: I think you are over generalizing. All depictions and renderings are not equal because all artists and artisans are not equal.
Well I wasn't trying to make a point so much as supply some relevant information. I wouldn't pick and choose what I present if I know something that supports either position.
Certainly it's conceivable that horse armor could have been made with smaller scales if one had the money, but that's not exactly good reason to believe the opposite would be true. James' statement is clearly not a serious theory, but rather the appropriate concession to reasonability since there's no definite reason large scales couldn't be used on soldiers' armor. Notice however that he does point out reasons it wasn't necessarily very likely. And of course just because something is possible certianly doesn't make it probable.
Just like so many other things within the subject of ancient studies, in the absence of enough definitive evidence, we have to work on liklihoods.
As for what I wrote about depictions, can you actually counter with an example where scales are shown to be very small? Or even significantly different than the majority? All the ones I'm aware of are quite large- relative to the vast majority of artifacts we have- and that's the significant point. The rational does follow quite well that since we know mail is almost never carved realistically, scale, which is also made large numbers of small elements, likely wasn't either. That's not to say it never was, however the doubt makes taking sculptural depictions very dodgy. And with specific respect to scale depictions, there's a further issue- many show scales with central ribs and yet virtually no artifacts of this type are known- I've only heard there are one or more from a single site. That itself suggests the depictions aren't exactly true-to-life.
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