Horse Armor Maker: Unknown

ca. A.D. 165–256

Ancient Art

Not on view

Soldiers in the third century B.C. protected the bodies of their horses with armor blankets, each made up of about two thousand scales. Bound together with wire, the overlapping scales were attached with rawhide strips to a linen-and-leather support. The sides hung just low enough to protect the horse without impeding its movement. Dura-Europos has yielded the only known examples of this type of armor, which was used by Parthian, Sasanian, and later Roman heavy cavalry. Upon excavation, this iron example came to the Gallery along with many fragments of a second bronze one; a complete third example (also bronze) is in the National Museum in Damascus.

Medium

Iron

Dimensions

Flat: 51 1/2 × 70 in. (130.81 × 177.8 cm)

Credit Line

Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos

Accession Number

1933.680

Geography

Excavated in Dura-Europos, Syria

Culture

Syrian, Dura-Europos

Period

Roman (2nd or 3rd century A.D.)

Classification

Arms

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Excavated by the Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos (Tower 19), present-day Syria, 1928–37; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Lisa R. Brody and Gail Hoffman, eds., Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity (Boston: McMullen Museum of Art, 2011), 300, fig. 18.6
  • Simon T. James, The Excavations at Dura-Europos,1928 to 1937: Final Report VII, 7 (London: British Museum Press, 2004), 131–32, no. 450, fig. 78, 79
  • Clark Hopkins, The Discovery of Dura-Europos, ed. Bernard Goldman (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1979), 191, field photograph, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

armor

Technical metadata and APIs

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