لوازم

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Quilted cotton horse armour

This horse armour is made from several pieces of brightly coloured cloth sewn together. They are stuffed with kapok, the wool-like strands that surround the seeds of the silk cotton tree, creating a heavy garment. In full battle the war-horse would also have worn chainmail or pieces of leather across the flanks. A headpiece of metal and cloth completed the outfit. These colourful horses did not always go into battle but instead they were often used by the bodyguards for leaders. Quilted armour is still worn today but only on ceremonial occasions.

This particular horse armour was probably used during the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898), which marked the end of the Mahdist state in Sudan. This state had been founded by the Mahdi in 1885 but was fully established by his successor, the Khalifa 'Abdallahi. In 1896 Kitchener was ordered to invade Sudan to protect British interests in the Nile Valley. His army of about 25,000 troops met the 60,000-strong Mahdist army at Omdurman and won a decisive victory. The Khalifa fled, to be killed a year later, and Kitchener became governor-general of Sudan under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium.​

 

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Horse harness fittings

Iron Age Britons probably considered their horses and the carts, traps or chariots they pulled as things of great value and importance. Metal horse harnesses and the other metal parts of carts were some of the most highly decorated objects made by Iron Age craftspeople.

It is difficult to appreciate the impact these colourful objects would have had in prehistoric times. Bright colours would have been rare. The inlaid red and bright blue glass would have stood out sharply. Imagine the spectacle and the sound as a horse drawn cart or chariot thundered past!​

 

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Bronze horse and rider

Lene: 'He looks like a knight as he's got a helmet on'
Daniel: 'He's a knight'
Angelica: 'He's got bare feet'
Debowrah: 'He has a very straight back like we have to when we ride.'​

 

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Horse armour

This painted rawhide horse armour and ornament was brought to England by Bryan Mullanphy in 1825. It consists of two circular lobes joined with a narrow central section. The geometric design may have served a protective or decorative purpose.

Equestrian equipment arrived on the Plains from the Spanish Southwest 200-300 years ago. Once in Native hands, saddles and their decoration developed and changed function through the nineteenth century. The circular areas were designed to cover the horse's leg joints, its most vulnerable area. They were targeted by bowmen trying to bring down the galloping horse, and if hit with an arrow the animal would be quickly crippled. The horizontal slip in the armour was for the girth and stirrup straps, which held the saddle and armour to the horse. The circular panels may also have protected the horse against other articles being carried, such as bags or parfleches.

As warfare declined and celebrations such as Wild West shows or Powwows increased in frequency, the decorative elements of ornamental horse armour may have become more lavish. Ornaments of this kind were used in pairs, one either side of the saddle. The pair to this piece is in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge.​

 

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Lamp showing a chariot race

The circus, with its long, narrow structure purpose-built for chariot and horse races, was a feature of many Roman cities. The scene on this terracotta oil lamp depicts a race in the Circus Maximus in Rome, the largest of all ancient circuses, with a capacity of around 200,000 people.

The lampmaker has skilfully condensed the whole event into a small space. In the centre the four-horse chariots (quadrigae) of the four factions (Reds, Blues, Whites and Greens) race around the track. Below them is the central island (spina, literally 'spine') of the circus, complete with statues, shrines, an obelisk and turning posts (metae). The starting gates and the crowd in the stands complete the scene.

The maker, Saeculus, whose name is stamped on the base of the lamp, often featured gladiatorial or chariot-racing scenes on his lamps.​

 

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Reins guide

This copper-alloy openwork fitting was for guiding the reins of a horse when pulling a waggon or sledge. Both sides are decorated with Borre Style animal masks in relief and interlacing bodies. The fitting was probably originally gilded, like the fragment of a similar example found in a field at Cliffe, North Yorkshire in 1997. The type is mainly found in Sweden, but the spread of Viking settlement and culture would explain the discovery of similar objects so far apart. A number of Swedish runestones record the names of local men who had joined the raids on England.

The fitting would have been attached by the perforated lugs round the base to a wooden bow. This was strapped across the shoulders of the horse as part of the harness. The reins would have passed through the two large, circular openings on either side of the centre. These fittings are sometimes found in pairs, indicating two horses would have been harnessed together.​

 

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Bronze horse bit from Han Dynasty

Bronze horse bit from Han Dynasty​

 

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Helen and Paris

The goddess Aphrodite, having promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world, brought him to Greece to seduce Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaos.

Helen is shown in the centre of this vase, adjusting her veil as she faces Paris, who holds his horse in readiness to the left. Aphrodite, at the far right, casually displaying her erotic attractions, surveys the meeting. Eros, the god of love, is seated at the bottom, apparently innocently playing with some animals, but his huge wings, extending upward behind Helen, suggest the influence he is exerting. Little surprise, then, that Helen ran off with Paris to Troy.

Before she was married, all of Helen's suitors had taken an oath to support whatever husband she chose, should anything happen. Menelaos recalled their oath to the suitors and mustered a large army to sail to Troy to recover Helen.

Thus began the Trojan War.​

 

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Silver plate showing Shapur II

A king goes hunting

Sasanian, 4th century AD

It is often possible to identify Sasanian rulers by their distinctive personal crowns, as the representations are accompanied by their names on certain sculptures and coins. This king wears the crown of Shapur II (AD 309-79).

About AD 224 the Parthians were defeated by Ardashir, a descendant of Sasan who gave his name to the new Sasanian dynasty. They were to rule Iran for over 400 years and saw themselves as the successors to the Achaemenid Persians. One of the most energetic and able Sasanian rulers was Shapur I (AD 240-72). In his reign the central government was strengthened, the coinage was reformed and Zoroastrianism was made the state religion.

The expansion of Sasanian power brought them into conflict with Rome in the west. In AD 260 the emperor Valerian was taken prisoner by Shapur I in a battle near Edessa. After this the defence of Rome's eastern frontier was left to the ruler of Palmyra, a caravan city in Syria that was allied with Rome, and his wife Zenobia.

By the end of the reign of Shapur I, the Sasanian empire stretched from the River Euphrates to the River Indus and included modern-day Armenia and Georgia. After a short period during which much territory was lost. Sasanian fortunes were restored during the long reign of Shapur II.​