Question: late Sassanid mail face/head protection

[sraoses]

Hi,

I was hoping someone could kindly give me an explanation, or point me towards one, of the face/head protection worn by this reenactor (is he a member here maybe?):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...281%29.jpg

(as also seen in the taq-e bostan inscription)

How effective could this armor be, given the vulnerability of the face and skull to even blunt force impact?

If there was padding beneath, wouldn't that negate the advantage of mail's breathability?

Was the design primarily aesthetic?

Could/should there be scale or more plate around the sides, or at least the back, of the head?

How much visibility does this afford?

Does the mail distort ability to hear or to project your own voice?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: I see user: Nadeem has a similar piece

[daryush]

1) probably less effective than a solid plate, but is far more comfortable. The main threat on a battlefield wasn't melee weapons but arrows, and I believe this would be fine for that.

2) padding - yes. Evidenced on Taq e Bostan. Leave cutouts for the mouth ;-)

3) maybe. A shapeless maille hanging is more intimidating than a shaped face IMHO. just look at some of the Mughal maille hangings to see this at its full effect. It is probably also A LOT cheaper than a plate mask.

4) no evidence for such

5) I have no major problems with mine. You can sort of see through the holes in the maille that dose to your face anyway.

6) no problems encountered with mine.

[sraoses]

Thank you very much for this reply Nadeem. If I may, three more questions:

first, if there is padding beneath the mail(le) over the face, then how could you still see through the links? Is the margin around the eyes just unpadded?

second: I acknowledge how limited the answerability of questions like mine is, but your guess is more educated than mine; what would be the experience of a rider who gets hit in the face or head with a typical arrow shot (I realize that a shot from point blank range is different from a high trajectory shot at distance. Is it likely, however, that a warrior so-armed could be hit in the face with an arrow and continue fighting, or resume fighting within the same battle?

third: how can we tell from TeB whether there is padding beneath?

Thank you, vale and bedrood

[daryush]

Yeah, the padding is mainly for the nose, to be honest, as that ends up taking the bulk of the weight from the maille. You can leave a little gap around the eyes, certainly don't put padding at the eye cutouts!

Close up photos of TEB show a line between the maille and the rider's eyes, which can be interpreted as a felt or textile layer designed as padding. Nicolle's Montvert book has a drawing of this.

And as for being hit in the face with an arrow - I have no idea! However, it's unlikely to do much damage. Proper maille, especially with a padded layer underneath, is very good at stopping arrows.