Cataphract armour

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Hmmmmm neverseen it! Thought I saw all those epics when I was a kid!

[Theodosius the Great]

You're in for a treat then, Gaius

I suggest you either buy or rent it on VHS since there's no official DVD release . As with all big movie epics I recommend you see it in letterbox format.


~Theo

[Daruss]

G-day guys,

Is he a dodgy character then? :lol: ....no

I belong to a sub group who portray 5th/6th C Romano British comitatus
Hasta Amorica.
I try to portray the heavy cataphract.
My usall portrayal is 14th C mounted knight (jousting and foot combat), mounted trooper English Civil War and Austrlian Light Horse.

The armour for the horse is based on the surviving one on display.


It took two 2.4m x 1.2m sheets of 0.6mm mild steel to cover the horse, each scale was dished before being stapled to the next to form long strips and then laced to a canvas backing, in thi case a fitted horse rug with a hole cut out for the saddle.
The horse has no problem with the weight or evan the chanfron.

My weight....76kg
Armour weight....35kg
Horse armour....about 7kg
Saddle/bridle, shield, spartha and spear...11kg

= 129kg

The Roman style saddle will be replaced, after much use I can see why they started to change saddle styles at this time, the amount of times that I was hung up on horns when mounting or dismounting was annoying.
Stirrips will also be added as well as they help mounting quickly, and when a horse won't stay still.

The thigh armour are based on examples and re constructions at the National Museum of Scotland.

[Daruss]

The pictures without the horse armour where taken 3 years ago and the ones with the armour last easter.

[Daruss]

and some more

[Daruss]

found some more

[Daruss]

have I bored you guys yet



Any questins please just ask.

[Theodosius the Great]

Daruss,

All I can do is gape at these photos hock:

What can I say ? Superb :!:

If I wanted to quibble with you I'd mention your use of stirrups. Although you don't appear to be wearing them with your horse armor. I suppose it wouldn't allow for those ? :wink:

How is it in there with all the heat building up ? The word 'cataphract' I think means something like baking-oven and the ancients coined that word for this armor, as I'm sure you know.

Congratulations on completing your highly successful impression

~Theo

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

indeed, superb!

that looks very impressive!

and welcome to RAT.

[Dan Diffendale]

The word 'cataphract' I think means something like baking-oven and the ancients coined that word for this armor, as I'm sure you know.

Actually, "cataphract" means "covered over." The Latin term clibanarius means something like "oven-man," from clibanus "oven."

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Totaly awesome mate! Glad to finaly see you here! 8)

Those pictures paint a thousand words++

Great stuff! Nice horses too, do they both take armour?

[AntonivsMarivsCongianocvs]

Salve,

Your armor, along with the equestrian armor, is absolutely phenomenally well done.

My hat is off to you on that one!

[Virilis]

have I bored you guys yet

Warren, you can bore us "ad perpetuum" with these photos! Absolutely great! I have always wondered how cataphracts/clibanarii would look in real life. I can only imagine a charge of , for example, of fully armoured alans... Great work!

[Robert Vermaat]

Ah Warren, finally! Great pictures, one get never get enough of that.. Ever tried mock-fighting from horseback?

[Daruss]

Thanks for that,
Someone started all this off by seeing apicture of me last year and wanted more picture's for his freinds book or something, these are all the pictures so far well mostly.(by all means they can be used )

It will look evan better when the neck guard is done. :twisted:

If I wanted to quibble with you I'd mention your use of stirrups. Although you don't appear to be wearing them with your horse armor. I suppose it wouldn't allow for those ? :wink:

By the 5th/6th C stirrips and new saddle styles from other cultures where
making more headway for mounted combat.
Many argue the point on when stirrips came into use, but carved gravestones of calvary of the time have shown that stirrips exssisted..
How widly used is still unknown.
But like armour you will always find a large mixture of styles.

And yes I can you'se stirrips with the horse armour, the Roman style saddle was mainly for testing it's use and why they started to change to new styles.

As to the heat buildup for me and the horse, not much problem there as the pictures where taken durring our winter.

More pic's that inspired me tomake this horse armour..