06-27-2006, 05:28 AM
The aventails on the helmets in the Skylitzes (and other Byzantine representations) have been variously interpreted as leather strips, quilted padding and "upside-down" lamellar. On my helmet I used padding. It's a bit over-stiff - tends to flip inside-out (like an umbrella in a strong wind) at the most inopportune times, but otherwise good. There are references to mail aventails, as I recall, but they don't seem to be shown very often in pictorial art. OTOH, helmets are fairly rare in Byzantine art anyway. That's why the Skylitzes Chronicle is such a gem.
The Chronicle was prepared in Sicily, but the artist is Byzantine - Greek/Anatolian rather than Moorish.
And yes, there was a lot of "cultural exchange" between Byzantium and al-Islamiyya - though with Persians, Turks and Arabs, not with the Moors. North Africa and Spain were outsde the Empire's ambit after about the 7th century.
The Chronicle was prepared in Sicily, but the artist is Byzantine - Greek/Anatolian rather than Moorish.
And yes, there was a lot of "cultural exchange" between Byzantium and al-Islamiyya - though with Persians, Turks and Arabs, not with the Moors. North Africa and Spain were outsde the Empire's ambit after about the 7th century.
"It is safer and more advantageous to overcome the enemy by planning and generalship than by sheer force"
The Strategikon of Emperor Maurice
Steven Lowe
Australia
The Strategikon of Emperor Maurice
Steven Lowe
Australia
