Sassanian body armour - cuirass

[daryush]

Hi all!

I am putting together a Sassanian cavalry impression, and I was wondering, if anyone could tell me what these guys at Firuzabad are wearing on top of their mail?

Firuzabad - cavalry fight

At first I thought it was a steel cuirass. Does anyone know anything in more detail about their shape / colour / etc?

(or, do you think I might be able to get away with something like this:


Thanks very much!

[kazeryu]

Looking at how it covers the shoulders and armpits Vs. the mail sleeves I would have guessed that it was fabric of some kind on top of a full mail shirt.

Unless there's some easy method of attaching mail sleeves all by themselves, it seems a bit redundant to wear a mail shirt under a metal breastplate... unless it's to provide additional protection against arrows?

An argument against it being fabric would be the detail on the horses - they appear to be wearing barding of some kind with different patterns, but no such patterns are evident on the men's chests - so either they are wearing plainer fabric than their horses or else it's not fabric.

[daryush]

Thanks for the reply. And a fabric tabard would be easier to obtain as well! And would not limit me twisting at the waist for mounted archery and lancing with a thick kontos.

Check out this plate of the same duel. Ardeshir's top appears to have a brass trim. Although this could just as easily be a separate piece on top of a cloth shirt.



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I have read some text sources stating that they wear "breastplates" (with no further information as to the type of breastplate) as well. Unfortunately can't remember where I read them though! They were quotes from ancient sources.

Thanks!

[Dan Howard]

I have read some text sources stating that they wear "breastplates" (with no further information as to the type of breastplate) as well. Unfortunately can't remember where I read them though! They were quotes from ancient sources.

You'd better check the original text. Usually the only word you'll find is lorica which is just a general term for armour. It could mean "breastplate" but it could also mean any other kind of armour worn at the time.

[Dan Howard]

I would interpret the character on the right to be wearing a scale corselet over a thigh-length mail haubergeon. Under that is a padded garment called tijfaf in Arabic, which has been horizontally quilted. The quilting is visible on the arms and legs.

[Alanus]

Thanks for the reply. And a fabric tabard would be easier to obtain as well! And would not limit me twisting at the waist for mounted archery and lancing with a thick kontos.

Check out this plate of the same duel. Ardeshir's top appears to have a brass trim. Although this could just as easily be a separate piece on top of a cloth shirt.

Daryush,

I think that what looks like "brass trim" is actually a tunic's collar. I wear something similar. Dan seems to have hit the armor style on the nose, and we see the folded leg material tucked into an almost knee-high boot. Possibly, the other guy (Adeshir) is wearing 3/4 sleeve chainmail; it Zig-zags and looks different than the huberic on the right.

Hard armor would have been difficult to use in the older style of using a contus (often twisting the torso), as opposed to the medeival lancing style.

[daryush]

Makes sense, thanks for the feedback guys.
So, for my impression, I'll just for a cloth sleeveless shirt / tabard like thing on top of the mail armour.
I can use lacing at the waist to get the narrow waist image that these guys seem to have.

Thanks

[Renatus]

I would interpret the character on the right to be wearing a scale corselet over a thigh-length mail haubergeon. Under that is a padded garment called tijfaf in Arabic, which has been horizontally quilted. The quilting is visible on the arms and legs.

Dan seems to have hit the armor style on the nose, and we see the folded leg material tucked into an almost knee-high boot.

It's curious how different people can look at the same object and see different things.

As to the right-hand figure, I see a warrior wearing a helmet with a scale aventail; his chest is covered by what might be a metal cuirass or a surcoat over a mail shirt; below that appear two flaps of mail or perhaps the bottom part of the mail shirt; and below that is a skirt of uncertain material, possibly patterned cloth or leather, or quilted fabric, or perhaps small plates of metal sewn into fabric. His arms and legs are protected by segmented armour and I see no boots.

[Dan Howard]

If his legs had segmented plate on them then he wouldn't be sitting on that horse.

[Renatus]

If his legs had segmented plate on them then he wouldn't be sitting on that horse.

It's called artistic licence.

[Dan Howard]

There is a quilted garment worn by those cultures that looks exactly like the above illustration. Why invent a type of armour that can't possibly function like it is represented when there is a perfectly acceptable alternative?

[Gregg]

The Firuzabad relief depicts the defeat of Artaban V by Ardashir I at Hormozdgan in 224 AD. The Sassaniann artist who carved the piece differentiated the Parthian from the Sassanian horsemen by the clan tamga badges shown on the horse bards, and differences in armor.

Sassanian dynasatic art tended to be somewhat stylistic, and the Firuzabad relief is pretty badly damaged. The numerous drawings I’ve seen interpret some of the details differently. However, there are a few good close-up photographs of parts of the relief that aid in interpretation. I think it would be fair to say that all the horsemen are possibly wearing some kind of textile tabard over some kind of stiff torso armor. In the case of the Sassanian horsemen this may have been a separate scale or lamellar armor. The Sassanians have long mail sleeves, probably part of thigh length mail hauberks worn under the scale or lamellar torso armor. The Parthians seem to be wearing scale (or possibly lamellar) thigh length torso armor, and are equipped with laminated metal plates over their arms, similar to the Roman manica. Both the Parthians and Sassanians are equipped with laminated metal leg armor.

Laminated limb armor of this type seems to have been common among Eastern cataphracts. Surviving artistic depictions of this type of cavalry armor are not terribly common, though Sassanian, Parthian, Greek, Roman and Kushan representations exist. Also, actual examples of laminated arm and leg defenses have been excavated at Taxila and Ai Khanoum respectively (IIRC other examples have been found, but most of my books are packed).

Gregg

[Gregg]

The Firuzabad relief depicts the defeat of Artaban V by Ardashir I at Hormozdgan in 224 AD. The Sassanian artist who carved the piece differentiated the Parthian from the Sassanian horsemen by the clan tamga badges shown on the horse bards, and differences in armor.

Sassanian dynasatic art tended to be somewhat stylized, and the Firuzabad relief is pretty badly damaged. The numerous drawings I’ve seen interpret some of the details differently. However, there are a few good close-up photographs of parts of the relief that aid in interpretation. I think it would be fair to say that all the horsemen are possibly wearing some kind of textile tabard over some kind of stiff torso armor. In the case of the Sassanian horsemen this may have been a separate scale or lamellar armor. The Sassanians have long mail sleeves, probably part of thigh length mail hauberks worn under the scale or lamellar torso armor. The Parthians seem to be wearing scale (or possibly lamellar) thigh length torso armor, and are equipped with laminated metal plates over their arms, similar to the Roman manica. Both the Parthians and Sassanians are equipped with laminated metal leg armor.

Laminated limb armor of this type seems to have been common among Eastern cataphracts. Surviving artistic depictions of this type of cavalry armor are not terribly common, though Sassanian, Parthian, Greek, Roman and Kushan representations exist. Also, actual examples of laminated arm and leg defenses have been excavated at Taxila and Ai Khanoum respectively (IIRC other examples have been found, but most of my books are packed).

Gregg

[Dan Howard]

I've looked through Volume 2 of the Taxila report and it mentions arm armour but not leg armour.

Here is Nikorov's entry for the Ai Khanoum armour (items b-e)

[Renatus]

I've looked through Volume 2 of the Taxila report and it mentions arm armour but not leg armour.

Here is Nikorov's entry for the Ai Khanoum armour (items b-e)

Nikonorov's item (d) perfectly describes leg armour of the type under consideration. Why accuse me of inventing it? Incidentally, would you be kind enough to identify the publication?