[Hisham Gaballa]

Timothy Dawson depicts these helmets several times in his "Byzantine Cavalryman c.900–1204", he also has a reconstruction of one of these on his website (scroll down):

http://livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/Levantia_light/helms.html

I haven't got the book to hand at the moment, so I can't tell you the reference.

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

[Jerzy Miklaszewski]

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

[Elling Polden]

When whe are (or rather where), on the topic;
This fellow has a theory on the construction of byzantine lammellar that I have not heard of before;
http://www.levantia.com.au/military/KKK.html

Proposed reconstructions;
http://www.levantia.com.au/military/armour.html

[Peter Raftos]

Another conjectural reconstruction appears here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/...ellar.html

[Dan Howard]

[Dan Howard]

I'm trying to find Byzantine illustrations that show mail being worn under lamellar. There is one contender so far in this thread.

[Connor Ruebusch]

Sorry to be off-topic, but what is the merit behind this fellow's claim that 12th-century kite shields (early heaters?) were worn with the arm going up through the straps from bottom-left to top-right (assuming one is left handed)? This always made more sense to me, but I seem to see a lot of people putting their arms down through the straps, from the top-left to the bottom-right.

http://www.levantia.com.au/military/crusarmour.html

[Elling Polden]

[Connor Ruebusch]

Thanks! And yeah, sorry to derail the thread.

Elling I was actually picturing your shield when I was thinking of that. I've always loved that big heater, whenever I see it in photos. Anyway, thanks again.

[John Coris]

As far as I know

The riders are Byzantine Cataphracts (Cataphractoi in greek which means "all clad"). They were the ones wearing mail masks leaving only the eyes free.

In ecclesiastical paintings no cataphracts are ever depicted, because all saints have their faces free. Usually orthodox saints wear officers outfits. However, there is often a mix and match especially in later icons, when these armours were nowhere to be found.

The pteryges (wings) were taken from the hoplite armor and were used by infantrymen. Sometimes they were reinforced by the kremasmata (hangings). The emperor Basil II Bulgaroctonus depicted above wears cavalry armour with no pteryges (again an evolution of ancient greek cavalry thorax).

My apologies for replying from the top of my head and not citing, but my books are at my father's house...

[Connor Ruebusch]

[Dan Howard]

[William P]

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/...fences.htm heres an article on the usage of wrist armour around the 10th century,

but it mostly looks at answering the common presentation of the varangian guard wearing splinted greaves and vambraces,
i.e 'why do they keep illustrating the guard as wearing them if theres pretty much no evidence

but it also investigates examples of limb armour during and prior to the 10th century
might be of some help

[Wyatt W]

To resurrect this topic 10 years later and perhaps add more but also pose a question relevant to its topic, how do we actually know that pteruges were even worn in the first place? Saint art is entirely suspect given its engagement in absurdism steeped in religious symbolism, totally unchanging nature across literal centuries in form or style, and in regards to other sources, the lack of mention in treatises regarding armor construction. It strikes me far more as an aesthetic bearing religious and cultural significance by harkening back to the heyday of Roman glory and the Hellenic culture Latin Romans were obsessed with as an initial Greek satellite.

Regarding armor construction however, one thing I would point out is that in both the Kataphraktoi and other cavalry/elite infantry units, earlier documentation that the Praecepta Militaria actually makes mention of quite remarkable hauberks, namely single piece constructions with sleeve length unspecified (I can pour over some books and PDF's I have tomorrow to double check), uniquely having a hem length down to the literal ankles, fixed in place by leather thongs. This actually sounds quite similar to the armor worn by Harald Hardrada on his return from his stint in the Varangian Guard, and would explain why no lamellar turns up in supposed vacationing Norse and their magical lamellar that some reenactors insist they had ( ) - it was extremely lengthy and comprehensive hauberks all along!. This is also on top of a likely lamellar cuirass with possible arm defenses in the time of Leo VI according to his treatise, along with forearm and possibly even further shin defenses, and perhaps even the kremesmata on top of that. And then of course there would be the epilorika, although I feel most artistic reconstructions of it are poor because they forget the oft mentioned hood of the garment, and cut sleeves folded up over the shoulders or back and pinned to the collar bone to form a kind of silk pauldron. Notable too as a unique form of armor is the mention of silk vambraces in the praecepta, reinforced either by strips of maille (?) or perhaps a full coating maille, either on top of or in the middle of the vambrace, the specifics lost to time. I also actually comissioned an artist for a reconstruction image of my perception of the Kataphraktoi of the 10th century, kind of in-between the descriptions of Leo VI and Nikephoros Phokas.



Some notes however, the artist obviously did not go through the specific means of detailing the maces as I weren't one to quibble on minutia for the fairly inexpensive price of the commission (quite cheap in fact). The intention of the forearm is to try to come up with how the silk vambraces might have been, either with a maille coat on top/stitched or the fabric being exposed. The greaves are based on split armor of nearby steppe splints of the same time - I've always been and always will be skeptical of the rather crude looking reconstruction of Roman greaves having the appearance of that Swedish split armor from the 700's, it strikes me as rather primitive for the times when surrounding tribes without industry to speak of were wearing formed splint greaves.

Also regarding klibania toughness, considering it was probably just 1-2mm thick iron plates at best depending on how exactly ablative the lamellar weave was in effective thickness, I actually wouldn't be too confident in its standalone performance. The caveat is that at least for heavy units, klibania was merely one component of multiple layers of armor, more so than western equipment of the time, and in all likelihood the Kataphraktoi were very durable. Namely Epilorika - Klibania - Hauberk - Tunic/possible kabadion, I'm not too clear on what the 'arming garment' exactly was than some kind of thick tunic or kaftan depending on locale and cultural leanings of the respective solider. Even the ventail covering the face was comprised of 2-3 layers, all in all forming quite the durable panoply.

[Paul Hansen]

That helmet seems not too dissimilar as the Vendel helmets such as this one from Valsgarde 8:
[/list]