Posts: 245
Threads: 41
Joined: Jun 2006
Reputation:
0
Hello
TI have posted the image that i am talking about.
I interpreted as flaps of mail falling along the legs of the horse and not wrapping it (as I suspect that that would limit its movements).
What do you thinjk about it?
Best regards
JP Vieira
Visit my Website at
[url:n6bls2l1]http://ilustro.webs.com/[/url]
Posts: 15,100
Threads: 414
Joined: Mar 2002
Reputation:
74
If you're taking the details that seriously (and can't it be paint on the horse - that happened elsewhere too), is the man riding side-saddle (that happened elsewhere too)?
Posts: 235
Threads: 8
Joined: Jun 2005
Reputation:
0
The patterns filling the bodies of horses depicted in the so called 'Liria style' (after the late Third century BC site in Valencia):
-come from a purely Iberian context (nothing to do with Lusitania)
-are just that, filling patterns for the coat, NOT armour (long explanation in book cited below).
-Not a single example of scale armour or chain mail coming from Iron Age contexts has been found in the Iberian peninsula (and I've examined personally thousands of weapons and grave goods in over 20 museums magazines).
-Not a single literary reference for horse armour in Iberia, Celtiberia and Lusitania; but plenty of direct and incidental evidende for light, unarmoured horses instead
-Not a single representation of horse armour in sculpture in the round or reliefs (more reliable than vase painting)
-Only a single reference for a few chain mail coats in Strabo and/or Diodorus, but as an exception, and nothing to do with horses
-Check articles on the Iberian pottery styles. Simply Osprey's book got it terribly wrong.
My advice: steer clar of Treviño's book. Its, text is hopelessly outdated, many colour plates are pure guessword (fantasy, in fact).
For a complete overall source on Iberian weapons and warfare, please check my F. Quesada 'El Armamento Iberico' (2 vols). Montagnac 1997 (obtainable via Oxbow books in Britain, Portico in Spain)
Posts: 46
Threads: 11
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
0
They say that the Lusitanii are skilled in ambushes and chasses, swift, quick and sthealthy; they wield small shields two feet wide and concave in their outside, being manouvered with the help of two straps around the neck, and, so it seems, without grips. Beyond that they use daggers or knives. Most of them wear linen armours and leather caps, very few others mail armours and three feathered helms. Some infantrymen also use greaves, and each of them carries several short spears; some of them with bronze tips.
Strabo of Amasya (Pontus), Greek historian, 63 BC - 24 AD
The Lusitanii are the strongest amongst Iberians; to war, they carry very small shields, made out of esparto (a natural hard vegetable fiber), with which can easily defend their bodies. During battle they wield it skilfully, moving it from one side to the other of their bodies, defending themselves with ability from every blow that falls upon them. They also use spears, entirely made of iron with harpoon-shaped tips, and ware helms and a sword very similar to the Celtiberians; they throw their spears with precision and to a great distance, very frequently causing grevious wounds. They are swift while moving and fast while running, so they flee and chase quickly (). With these light armours, being able to run very fast and being very sharp-minded, they can only be defeated with difficulty. They consider the rocks and ranges their homeland and so seek refuge in them, because they are impracticable to large and heavy armies. So, because of that, the Romans, who have organized countless expeditions against them, although being able to counter their daring, have not, dispite of their commitment, been able to end their pillaging.
Diodorus Siculus of Sicily, Sicilian historian, 80 BC - 20 AD
Andrei Sandu