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Scythian Armor

To be discussed:

Materials

• bronze
• iron
• leather

Helmets

• “Kuban” helmet
• various Greek styles

Cernenko, McBride, & Gorelik (1983) provided a helpful set of illustrations of helmets from Scythian burials that are Greek in nature: the “Corinthian, Chalcidian, or Attic” types were among the most common (p. 7).

Corinthian helmet ~500 BCE (CC BY-SA 3.0 by MatthiasKabel)

Chalcidian helmet ~500 BCE (CC BY-SA 3.0 by Walters Art Museum)

Ceremonial Attic helmet ~300 BCE (CC BY 2.0 by davide ferro)

Some helmets appear to have had holes for lacing aventails of some sort on–such as scales or leather flaps.

Body Armor

• breastplate
  • bronze breastplate featuring a Gorgon face from a 4th c. BCE Kuban burial
• linothorax
• scale

Leather scale armor from Subeixi or Saka culture, 8th-3rd c. BCE (Public domain)

The Solokha comb shows several types of armor: a horseman with a Corinthian helmet and scale armor; an infantryman with a linothorax; and an infantryman whose only armor is a shield.

Scythian comb from Solokha kurgan (Public domain)

Limb Armor

• greaves
  • some greaves with human face decorations
• splints?

Shields

Materials

• metal-faced
• wicker

Shapes and Sizes

Extant shields and depictions of them suggest several shapes and sizes.

One rectangular Pazyryk shield made of wicker rods threaded through leather measures 40.5cmx30cm (~16“x11.8”), according to Simpson & Pankova (2017).

A tombstone-shaped (rectangular with a rounded top) shield from Pazyrk measures 68cmx50cm (~26.75“x20”), according to Simpson & Pankova (2017).

Greek influences/elements

TBA

Persian influences/elements

TBA

References

see also: weaponry