09-28-2016, 05:47 AM
So I just read the translation of Xenophon's On Horsemanship on the Perseus digital library (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text...text=Horse.) and I am questioning his description of the neck guard on the breastplate. The translation goes,
"And, since the neck is one of the vital parts, we hold that a covering should be available for it also, standing up from the breastplate itself and shaped to the neck. For this will serve as an ornament, and at the same time, if properly made, will cover the rider's face, when he pleases, as high as the nose." (12.2).
When I first read that I pictured a bevor, but I doubt that is right. Was Xenophon just referencing the raised collar on some of the surviving breastplates? Or more of the raised collar plates some steppe and Persian horsemen had? If it was just the raised collar, how would it cover the face, "as high as the nose"?
Just wanted to hear peoples' thoughts on this!
Thanks,
Chris
"And, since the neck is one of the vital parts, we hold that a covering should be available for it also, standing up from the breastplate itself and shaped to the neck. For this will serve as an ornament, and at the same time, if properly made, will cover the rider's face, when he pleases, as high as the nose." (12.2).
When I first read that I pictured a bevor, but I doubt that is right. Was Xenophon just referencing the raised collar on some of the surviving breastplates? Or more of the raised collar plates some steppe and Persian horsemen had? If it was just the raised collar, how would it cover the face, "as high as the nose"?
Just wanted to hear peoples' thoughts on this!
Thanks,
Chris
