Byzantine Weapons and Warfare

[Theodosius the Great]

This is probably the clearest representation, and the one I plan to copy. It's an 11th century steatite ikon of St George in the Vatopedi monastery, Greece

Ahh...I should have guessed. I suppose they're similar in construction to your upper-arm plates. I wonder if the skirt qualifies as lamellar - I can't see why not.

Not really. You just sling it over your back, like the guy on the far right in the lowest panel here. Also, see the guys with both axes and shields here.

I see. But that prompts the question : when was the shield used if not in hand to hand combat ? Perhaps during an initial exchange of missles from opposing archers at the beginning of a battle ?

If you wanted to have curved edges on your plates, somebody makes plates copied from those found at Birka (or was it Wisby?) which would fit the bill.

Yes ! I've been seesawing over using Visby style platesor Deepeeka's plates. The Visby plates' D-shape is similar to the ones seen on this Palmyran relief but the Palmyran ones look much shorter, IMO. (Of course they date to either the 1st or 2nd century AD). So, are the Visby plates plausible in your estimation or were you thinking of another type ?

Both Deepeeka and Visby styles are about the same length.

BTW, if you're interested in 6th century spangenhelms, I have links to lots of sites with photos - though yours seems very much typical of the best of them.

I think I have enough photos to know what I'd like for a spangenhelm, but thank you just the same. And thank you, Steven, for your last article. I haven't finished it yet but I'm spellbound by it.