[Guilherme Dias Ferreira S]

I couldn't find any kind of a middle east warrior using a full or almost full plate armour in the internet - maybe I may search a little more... . But I will be very thankful if one of you guys could show some images of these warriors. By the way, the plate armour, even the half plate, was commonly used by the Turks, Egypts and other middle east people?

[Micha Hofmann]

Hello Guilherme.

As far as I know, the heaviest armour worn by turkish, mamluk or persian warriors was a combination of mail and plate ( mail with plate and leather at the joints and at scales or smaller plates at the breast and back ) because full plate armour was just to bad regarding ventilation in hotter climates.

You can start taking a look in these threads:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...t=istanbul

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=8890

[John Cooksey]

Iranian knights of the Safavid period often wore a type of armor called "chahr ayne". This was a multi-piece cuirass (4 or 5 plates), in its developed form, worn over mail and suspended most often by straps from the shoulders.
Their arms were protected by bazuband, an armor plate, covering the forearm, that continued into a gauntlet/armored glove/mitten.
Similar defenses have been noted for the knee and lower legs.

I don't know if ventilation is the real issue at work here or not.
Some parts of what we consider the Middle East are really not all that hot, certainly nowhere nearly as humid as most of Europe (with a few exceptions).
It's a good question . . . .

[Hisham Gaballa]

A form of plate armour often known as the "krug" was worn by the Mamluks, Ottomans and was also used in Iran from the late 15th century to the mid 17th century. It is still not full plate. As Micha pointed out the lack of ventilation with full plate could be lethal somewhere as hot as the Middle-East. Furthermore a different style of fighting was used in the Middle-east (and Russia) where horse archery was paramount and hand to hand combat only occurred when the enemy was sufficiently weakened. Full plate armour could slow you down a bit there.

Pictures of Krugs from the Stibbert Museum in Florence:


The one in the black and white photo is Mamluk, the other 3 are Ottoman and date to the 16th century.



These are from the myArmoury Museum album:
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12707
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12691
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12457
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12370

Micha possibly has a couple of photos of krugs from the Askeri Museum in Istanbul.

This is the afore mentioned chahr ayna, a type of armour that first appeared in Iran in the late 16th century and was used in Iran and India until the 19th century:
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12402
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12399
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage.php?pos=-12349

And finally this is the Russian version of the krug, known as a zertsalo:




Edit

I found these pics doing an internet search:

http://www.antiques-arms.com/catalog/antique-...-1706.html

http://www.antiques-arms.com/catalog/indo-per...-1710.html

http://www.antiques-arms.com/catalog/turkish-...-1588.html

http://www.antiques-arms.com/catalog/turkish-...-1587.html

http://www.antiques-arms.com/catalog/sold-tur...p-548.html

http://www.antiques-arms.com/catalog/sold-tur...-1584.html

http://www.czernys.com/auctions_lot.php?oggetto=24465

http://www.czernys.com/auctions_lot.php?oggetto=24469

http://www.czernys.com/auctions_lot.php?oggetto=25611

http://www.czernys.com/auctions_lot.php?oggetto=24462