plumata origin

[Dan Howard]

I was under the impression that plumata was a term actually used by contemporary Romans. I was also under the impression that Josephus uses the term to describe some of the armour the Parthians put on their horses. However, I can't find any instance of the term in any of the texts I have searched. Is plumata a modern term or did the Romans use it?

[Dan Diffendale]

let's see... Statius in the Thebaid (II.543) says qua... plumis imus tegit inguina thorax -- that's just pluma, though, 1b in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, "a scale (of a coat of mail)" -- don't take the mail part too seriously, though, .

Vergil, Aeneid II.771: quem pellis aenis in plumam squamis... tegebat for 2. "a growth of feathers, plumage" here again transferred, "of a coat of mail".

No OLD entry for 'plumata'.

Take a look at Justin's Epitome of the Pompeius Trogus's History:
Munimentum ipsis equisque loricae plumatae sunt, quae utrumque toto corpore tegunt (Justin. XLI.2.10).
"Loricae plumatae are the armor of the man and his horse, which armors protect the entire body" -- referring to the Parthians, here.

Watson's 1853 edition of Justin refers to Claudian, In Rufianum II.35 (see here):

In Rufinum[/i],":2k5ry9on]
hinc alii saeuum cristato uertice nutant,
quos operit formatque chalybs — coniuncta per artem
flexilis inductis animatur lamina membris,
horribilis uisu: credas simulacra moueri
ferrea cognatoque uiros spirare metallo. 360
par uestitus equis: ferrata fronte minantur
ferratosque leuant securi uulneris armos.
diuiso stat quisque loco, metuenda uoluptas
cernenti pulcherque timor, spirisque remissis
mansuescunt uarii uento cessante dracones. 365

Translation from LacusCurtius, from the 1922 Loeb:

Here nod the savage waving plumes whose wearers rejoice to shake the flashing colours of their shoulder-armour; for steel clothes them on and gives them their shape; the limbs within give life to the armour's pliant scales so artfully conjoined, and strike terror into the beholder. 'Tis as though iron statues moved and men lived cast from that same metal. The horses are armed in the same way; their heads are encased in threatening iron, their forequarters move beneath steel plates protecting them from wounds; each stands alone, a pleasure yet a dread to behold, beautiful, yet terrible, and as the wind drops the parti-coloured dragons sink with relaxing coils into repose.

( http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... um/2*.html -- the asterisk screws up the url)

[Dan Howard]

Many thanks. Laudes coming your way. It seems I have mistakenly attributed Justin's passage to Josephus.