12-14-2009, 01:46 AM
Quote:That's possible though the right arm/shoulder, thorax and chlamys/cloak are resolutely produced in profile He is definitely reigning his mount's chin onto its chest and I'd guess that his left hand is gripping the reigns just as is his right.
Again, I'm not arguing that it's a shield: there isn't enough detail in my fig 10 to make such a claim. I don't think it is his arm though for the reason above.
I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one. I have no problem with seeing that object as his raised left arm. It's obvious from the fairly crude style that the sculptor isn't any master, and so I think that it could just simply be an awkward depiction of the left forearm.
Here is an image of a horseman with his arms similarly oriented; just imagine that his mount's head was farther back and that his forearm was angled downward a little more and you would have a very similar depiction to that shown on this stele.
http://antiquemilitaryhistory.com/images/horseman.JPG
And here they are side by side:
http://antiquemilitaryhistory.com/image ... arison.JPG
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
