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the opinion that this was the origin of crests and other annexations of helmets. Even the skins of large birds and fishes were employed in the same manner; and we have thus an easy explanation not only of the crest, but of the erect ears, horns, wings, &c., which we see in ancient helmets. The horsehair, which was anciently and is still displayed on helmets, admits of the same explanation. It arose from the custom of wearing the head of a horse with the mane remaining, either proper, or cut short so as to stand erect like a hog's bristles; the tail also being annexed. The Ethiopians and Libyans had horse-head helmets: their Egyptian neighbours gave up animal heads for helmets, but continued them as crests; the crest of the royal helmet among that people being, according to Diodorus, the heads of the horse, lion, or dragon. Now Herodotus says, that the Greeks borrowed their helmets, as well as their shields, from the Egyptians. But those we have mentioned were far from being the only people who had animal-head helmets. Of the Hebrew helmets (called ya, coba; or yap, koba) we only know that they were generally of brass; and that the helmet of the king was distinguished by its crown. It is, however, interesting to learn that metallic helmets were, so far as appears, exclusively in use among them. Homer's heroes have also, generally, helmets of brass. Whether the Hebrews had crests to their helmets or not, it is impossible to say distinctly. We do not think that the crest was a characteristic of Oriental helmets; but as the royal helmet in Egypt had a crest-as the helmets of Asia Minor were sometimes crested-and as in the Trojan war a crested helmet was worn by the Trojans, and also, it would seem, by the Greeks-it is not unlikely that the crest was known to the Jews. Plumes we are not to expect; they were not used in the most ancient periods, and but sparingly in later antiquity. Homer never mentions plumes; but often horsehair. So of Paris it is said:

"He set his helmet on his graceful brows,

Whose crest of horsehair nodded to his step
In awful state."

In the combat which followed, Menelaus was dragging him along by this horsehair crest, when :

"The broider'd band,

That under braced his helmet at the chin,

Strain'd to his smooth neck with a ceaseless force
Choked him."

But, fortunately for him, this band, "though stubborn, by a slaughtered ox supplied," snapped, leaving the said helmet only in the victor's hand. It seems that in these crests the ridge was covered with hair from the mane of the horse, while other and longer hair hung dependent from the extremity behind; but the ridge often terminated in a horse-tail when its surface had other ornaments. Meyrick seems to think that the horsehair was sometimes gilt, which is less unlikely than that, as he also supposes, this ornament was sometimes composed of wires of gold.

As we do not know the form of the Hebrew helmet, we shall add a few remarks concerning those of the nations who either were their neighbours, or with whom they were connected, or to whom they were subject at the different periods of their history; and whose helmets at such times they probably wore, or at least allowed the forms they exhibited to modify their own. They must certainly have been well acquainted with them.

EGYPTIANS. In this country the kings and nobles only wore helmets of metal; the common soldiers wore caps of woollen or of linen strongly quilted. There are specimens of these in our wood-cut.-PHRYGIANS. The Phrygian bonnet in peace, and the helmet in war, was the prevalent head-dress of the inhabitants of Asia Minor, and in Meyrick's opinion the helmet is one of the most ancient, and the same which was worn by the Trojan heroes in Homer. Its general form will be seen in our wood-cut; and the following particulars deserve attention, as they illustrate our preceding observations concerning the transmutation of a cap into a helmet. Its principal characteristics were those of a cap with the point bent forward, and with long flaps descending to the shoulders. It sometimes appears as a mere cap of the most soft and pliable stuff, unable to support itself, and hanging down in large wrinkles; at others it appears to have formed a helmet of the most hard and inflexible substance-of leather, or even metal, standing quite stiff and smooth, and enriched with embossed ornaments. To many of these there are four flaps. which would appear to have been made from the leg skins of the animals of whose skin the cap was originally formed; but in the lighter caps there are only a single pair of flaps, which are often tucked up and confined by a string around the crown. A flap of mail frequently descended from under the helmet to protect the neck and shoulders.-The SYRIANS seem to have adopted, with some modification, the cylindrical helmet or cap of the Persians; but there is one, represented in our wood-cut, which is considered more peculiarly Syrian, and the resemblance of which, as Sir S. Meyrick remarks, to that of the modern Chinese is very great. They have alike a high ornamental spike at the top: that which terminates the Syrian one is a lily, which, according to Herodotus, was the ornament which the Assyrians bore on the tops of their walking-sticks.-The ASSYRIANS had helmets of brass.-The MEDES and PERSIANS. As we are not stating minute distinctions, we may mention generally that the helmets or "impenetrable caps," as Xenophon rather calls them, of the Medes and Persians, exhibit four principal forms in the accounts of ancient writers and in the sculptures of Persepolis: these are cylindrical, hemispherical, semi-oval, conical. To these also applies the remark concerning the origin of the form of the national helmet in that of the national cap. The cylindrical cap and helmet must, however, be particularly regarded as a national characteristic of the ancient Persians, the other forms being too general to be assigned as a national distinction. It is exhibited in the form of a cylinder of various height, with a some what wider diameter at top than at bottom, and resembling a hat without a brim-particularly such hats with broad crowns as were in use a few years since. It is either plain, or fluted, or otherwise ornamented; and we see it exhibited either simply, or in various combinations-sometimes as a diadem, often radiated at top, and variously embossed and orna mented, and encircling one of the round, semi-oval, or conical caps. This cylindrical cap or helmet became greatly diffused by the conquests of the Persians, and must have been well known to the Jews during the captivity, and whil Palestine was a Persian province. Xenophon speaks of brazen helmets with white crests; but no crests appear in the sculptures of the country.-We need not particularly dwell on the helmets of the Greeks and Romans. These were indeed, well known to the Jews in the later period of their history; but much that might be said concerning them ha been anticipated in our first observations. The Roman helmet was borrowed from the Greeks with slight modifica tions. Of the more elaborate Greek helmet our cut of a Greek warrior furnishes a very fine specimen, which will b better understood by the eye than by technical description. It has three crests of horsehair from the mane, cut shor and square, with a dependent tail. Some helmets had as many as five crests of this sort. The more common helme of both the Greeks and Romans, is fairly represented by that which appears on the heads of the Roman soldiers in th cut, p. 612. vol. i., being merely a scull-cap without ridge or crest, but having at top a knob or button, and differing i no material respect from that of the mounted Dacian below, except that the latter has a spike instead of a knob. Th helmets and caps of the figures in the cuts to Judges v. will very materially assist in the illustration of the present note

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d

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a, Egyptian; b, Phrygian; c, Dacian; d, Roman, Common Soldier; e, Do. Officer; f, Do. Imperial.

"Coat of mail."-When men had realized a means of protecting their heads by strong caps and helmets, they naturally began soon to think of extending the same protection to other parts of the body. It would be absurd to suppose that every nation adhered to the same rule of progression; but it may perhaps be stated as a general rule, with large variations, that the progressive kinds of armour were-1. The skins of various animals, and even, in some countries, of birds and fishes. 2. Hides, mats, wood; linen or woollen padded or folded; strong twisted linen. 3. Leather bordered with metal. 4. Entire plates of metal; but as these were heavy and inflexible, various contrivances were resorted to in order to obtain the security which metal gives, without its rigidity, and without all its weight. For this purpose, the leather was covered with square pieces of metal, riveted on; or else, embossed pieces of metal were fastened en so as to protect the more important parts of the person, and to serve at once for ornament and use. Sometimes also, the defence was formed of bands or hoops of metal, sliding over each other, and therefore yielding to the motions of the body. 5. We then come to what is properly mailed armour, by which a higher degree of flexibility was obtained than a metallic covering might be supposed capable of affording. This armour was of several kinds. Leather, linen, or woollen, was covered with rings or with scales. The rings were of various kinds and sizes, and variously disposed. Sometimes they were fixed independently of each other, as in the very fine specimen of Phrygian mail which our woodcut exhibits: in other instances, the rings were twisted into each other, like the links of a chain; and, in some cases, the rings were set edgewise, as shown in the Egyptian hauberks (fig. a of the above cut), which Denon copied truth the walls of Carnac, and which, in Sir S. Meyrick's opinion, affords the earliest known specimen of this kind of armour. Seale armour was that which obtained the same effect by arranging small pieces of metal, cut into the shape of leaves, scales, &c., in such a manner that they fell over each other like the feathers of a bird, or the scales of a fish. This kind of armour had grown into extensive use long before it was adopted by the Romans, who regarded it as a characteristic of barbarians that is, of any nations except themselves and the Greeks. In the time of the emperors, they were, however, led to adopt it from the Dacians and Sarmatians. This scaled armour was not, however, always of metal; for the last-named people had none such. They were without proper metals, and therefore they collected the hoofs of horses, and after purifying, cut them into slices, and polished the pieces so as to resemble the scales of a dragon, or a pine-cone when green. These scales they sewed together with the sinews of horses and oxen; and the body armour thus manufactured was, according to Pausanias, not inferior to that of the Greeks either in elegance or strength. The Emperor Domitian had, after this model, a cuirass of boars' hoofs stitched together; and this, indeed, would seem better adapted to such armour than the hoofs of horses. With such armour as this of scales, or indeed that of rings, any part of the body might be covered; and, accordingly, we see figures covered with a dress of scale, ring, or chain armour, from head to foot, and even mounted on horses which have the whole body, to the very hoofs,

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clad in the same manner. Of this, our cut of a Dacian warrior on horseback is a curious specimen; and in the cut used a vol. i. p. 614, to illustrate the note on spears and shields, there is represented a Persian warrior, having his body, and even his face, covered with an exquisitely mailed tunic, the fore part of his horse also being clad in complete mail. The construction of such mailed armour had been brought to a state of astonishing perfection. In some instances, particularly in scale-armour, we see figures covered completely in suits fitted to the body with consummate accuracy, and displaying not only the shape of the wearer but even the muscular parts of the person; that is to say, the armour was so flexible that it yielded readily to the pressure of the muscles and to the various motions of the body. Now, Goliath's "coat of mail" was of scales; and affords the most ancient specimen of scaled armour on record. That it was such, does not appear in our translation, which omits the descriptive epithet D'UpUp, which is found in the text, and which is the same that, in the feminine plural, is employed in Lev. xi. 9, and Ezek. xxix. 4, to express the scales of a fish. Whether this kind of scaled armour was adopted by the Jews does not appear. We should think it very probable; though it is certainly true that this is the only instance in which the word Dpp is used in application Having thus noticed the various methods in which ancient armour was made, it is desirable to notice the parts of which it consisted.

to armour.

The thorax or breastplate.—There is no question that this, as Sir S. Meyrick suggests, was the most ancient piece of amour for the protection of the upper portion of the body. When men began to extend to that the protection which the helmet had given to the head, a defence for the breast was naturally the first desired and attempted. This was the principal use of the thorax, which for a long time continued to be, under various modifications of form, the sole bodyamour of ancient nations; and which, under further modifications, was used in addition to other pieces of armour, subsequently introduced. It probably originated with the Egyptians, among whom, according to Meyrick, it was the only body-armour; a position to which we apprehend that some exceptions must be allowed. It hung over the breast and shoulders, in the manner of a tippet; and was made of linen, several times folded and quilted in such a manner as to resist the point of a weapon. These linen pectorals came into extensive use among the neighbouring nations; and those of Egyptian manufacture were particularly valued. A linen thorax of this kind seems to have been worn in the Trojan war by the Lesser Ajax, who"With a guard

Of linen texture light his breast secured."

Sir S. Meyrick thinks that the Persians were the first who gave a metallic character to the thorax; and it is also his opinion that it was the principal piece of body-armour among the Hebrews.

The Corselet, called by the Greeks mithree, was of various forms; and composed, progressively, of the sundry materials we have described. It was a sort of waistcoat, sometimes consisting of two compact pieces, one covering the front and the ether the back, and commonly fastened to each other at the sides. At first these cuirasses, whether compact or mailed, were cut short round at the loins; as in the cut of the Greek warrior, which illustrates many of the details we are now giving. This is also seen in the figure of the outermost Roman soldier in the cut to vol. i. p. 612; for these short corselets confinued to be worn by certain descriptions of warriors long after that more complete cuirass had been introduced, which fllowed the line of the abdomen; and which, whether of leather or metal, was, as we see in the Roman cuirasses, hammered so as to fit exactly to the natural convexities and concavities of the body; with the natural marks of which, as of the navel, &c., it was often impressed. These cuirasses were sometimes plain, but were often highly enriched with embossed figures, of common or precious metals, in wreathings, borders, animal heads, and other figures. The Romans, in particular, affected the Gorgon's head on the breast, as an amulet.

The girdle-This was of more importance with the thorax only, or with the short corselet, than with the cuirass which covered the abdomen. Its use is seen in the cut of the Greek warrior; but it was often broader than it there appears. It was a part of their armour on which the ancient warriors set high value. It was often richly ornamented; and the gift of a warrior's girdle to another was a testimony of the highest consideration. Thus it is not forgotten to state that Jonathan gave his girdle to David; and we read in the Iliad (vii. 305), that when Hector and Ajax ex changed gifts, in testimony of friendship, after a hard combat together, the latter presented the former with his girdle. It is often mentioned in Scripture; and from its use in keeping the armour and clothes together, and in bearing the sword, as well as from its own defensive character, "to gird" and "to arm" are employed as synonymous terms.

The skirt or petticoat fell below the girdle, and with the short cuirass covered only the hips and top of the thighs, but with the long cuirass covered great part of the thighs. It was sometimes a simple skirt, but often formed a piece of armour, and frequently consisted of one or more rows of leathern straps, sometimes plated with metal and richly bordered or fringed. In many of the Roman cuirasses, particularly those of superior officers, the shoulders were protected in a similar manner.

These

The long corselet which covered the person from the throat to the abdomen, and, by means of the skirt, to the thighs, may be said to combine the several parts we have described, except the girdle, as may be seen particularly in fig. f of the miscellaneous cut. They were in fact defensive tunics; and having mentioned them above, we have only to repeat that they were, in different times and countries, composed of all the materials we have specified at the outset. several parts of armour when put on separately, or when united in such long cuirasses as this, together with helmet and greaves, left only the arms, the lower part of the thighs, and the face, unprotected-and not always the face, as some of the ancient helmets had visors. But some parts being exposed, a step further was made by investing the body from threat to heel in a complete dress of mail: this step, however, was never taken by the classical nations of antiquity, it being in their view the attribute of such "barbarians" as the Sarmatians, Dacians, and Parthians.

We trust that this cursory statement will assist the general ideas of the reader when armour is spoken of in Scripture; which is the more necessary, as, in the absence of any distinct intimations concerning the Hebrew armour, we can only form our notions on the subject by considering the kinds of armour which were generally worn by ancient nations. It will be observed that the various words which occur in our version, as "coat of mail, brigandine, habergeon, harness, breastplate" (except that of the high-priest, which has a different word) are expressed by what is essentally the same word, in Hebrew, with such variations of orthography as occur in other instances. The most usual form of this word is, sirion. Sir S. Meyrick is of opinion that this always or generally means the thorax of which we have spoken, and which the Hebrews probably derived from Egypt. He thinks that, in remote times, it was attached to a short tunic, in the same way that the sacred breastplate was fastened upon the ephod. "Beneath the pectoral were belts plated with brass or other metal, and the uppermost of them was bound upon the bottom of the tanic which connected the pectoral with the belts, and all of them together formed a tolerably perfect armour for the front of the whole body. These belts," called in Hebrew, chagor, "were generally two, one above the other, and 49

VOL. II.

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appear similar to those that are represented in ancient Greek sculpture, though in some degree higher up. This mode o arming perfectly explains the passage in Scripture where Ahab is said to have been smitten with an arrow p between the openings or joints, that is, of the belts, and between the thorax or pectoral. The pectoral of the Egyptians were made of linen; and perhaps anciently those of the Jews were the same. In after times they seem to have been covered with plates of metal, and in the New Testament we meet with the words 9wganas aiongaus, o pectorals of iron (Rev. ix. 9). The military sagum or cloak is called in our translation a habergeon, but the origina (N) is of doubtful signification, and occurs only twice (Exod. xxxviii. 32; xxxix. 23). But of whatever kind th garment may have been, it had an aperture at the upper part through which the head was passed when it was put o the body. Strutt conjectures that it was the tunic upon which the thorax was put, and bore the same relation to th thorax that the ephod did to the sacred pectoral." Sir S. Meyrick is so great an authority on these subjects, that it i difficult to dissent from him; but we think his statement too restrictive. So far from supposing that the Hebrew sirion means only the thorax, we are convinced that it has a more extended signification, and implies perhaps, as under stood by our translators, almost any kind of body armour, being rather a general than a specific term. Indeed, h himself states, incidentally, that the same word means a cuirass in the description of Goliath's armour. Doubtless th Hebrews did wear such armour as he describes; but surely not such exclusively. We rather imagine that they wer at different periods acquainted with most of the forms of defensive armour which we have noticed.

GRECIAN WARRIOR IN ARMOUR.

6. "Greaves of brass upon his legs."-These were a kind of boots, without feet, for the defence of the legs, made eith of bull's hide or of metal, generally brass or copper. The ancient greave usually terminated at the ancle, and rose front nearly to the top of the knee. It was open behind, but the opposite edges at the open part, nearly met when th greave was buckled, buttoned, or tied to the leg. There were some kinds that did not reach so high as the knee. Th piece of armour was useful not only in combat, but for the purpose of guarding the leg against the impediments, su as iron spikes, &c., which the enemy strewed in the way, as well as to enable the warrior to make his way more easi among thorns and briers. It appears from ancient sculptures that greaves with the open part in front, and defendin the calf rather than the shin, were sometimes in use. Sometimes a greave was worn on one leg only, and that was th left; that leg, and indeed the left side generally, being advanced in action on account of the buckler, which was bon on the left arm. Homer's heroes usually wore brass greaves; indeed the Greeks are continually called "brazen-greave Achaians;" whence some suppose that this defence was first, and for a time exclusively, used by that people. T

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