I spent part of yesterday and today finding out why large buttons aren't used on belts: Heavy vegetable-tanned leather simply doesn't have the flexibility or stretch to get around the button unless the buttonhole is huge. So either the leather used in an Achaemenid weapon belt was much softer or thinner than would seem to me practical for a belt intended to support a loaded gorytos, or I've yet to really understand how the "button" works.
For the large flower-patterned fasteners, I suppose it's possible that they functioned like cowboy-style buckles. The smaller ones really do look like just large buttons, though.
If I understand correctly how a cowboy buckle works, it's possible to have one that looks small and button-like to the outside. The buckle would be shaped like a pin, with the part that looks like a button being the head of the pin, and the stem poking through the belt so that it can be attached to a hole in the belt's other end.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this buckle design was used that far back in history, though.
So something like an upside-down button stud? I could see it...
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