I really meant to post this weeks ago. Wandering Sheep produces handmade felt goods, including tiaras. A flat stitched tiara is acceptable if it's low-crowned for a Persian impression, but if you prefer to reenact as a Phrygian or the ever-popular Scythian, you'll need a tall pointed hat and a properly molded one will look immeasurably better.
This link was brought to my attention by one of my Facebook friends, sorry I forgot who.
Showing posts with label headwear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label headwear. Show all posts
Friday, July 18, 2014
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Scythians
Geographical definition and nomenclature
The term Scythian (O.P. Sakâ, also Gk. Sakai, Lat. Sacae) broadly glosses a number of ancient peoples who shared the culture of the Great Steppe such as it was in Classical antiquity and may have spoken closely-related languages. They were spread over a very wide area:
• The Amyrgian Scythians or Sakâ haumavargâ ("haoma-drinking Scythians") lived in or about modern Uzbekistan. • The Orthocorybantians or Sakâ tigrakhaudâ ("pointed-hat Scythians") were north of Parthia in present Turkmenistan
• The Pausikoi or Apâ Sakâ ("water Scythians") appear to have been somewhat northeast of the Sakâ tigrakhaudâ.
• The Sakâ paradrayâ ("Scythians across the sea") lived north of the Black Sea in the modern Ukraine and part of Romania. They were not part of the Persian empire. These are the folk whom the Greeks referred to simply as Scythians (Skythoi), without qualification.
The Dahae (Dahâ) and Massagetae (*Mâh Sakâ?), who lived in what is now south-central Kazakhstan, are sometimes glossed as Scythian peoples, but for brevity's sake, I won't cover them here. This history will attempt to treat the first four peoples.
Linguist Oswald Szemerényi regarded Skythoi and Sakâ as coming from different roots. The former, he said, derived from an Indo-European root meaning "shoot" and reconstructed in the original Scythian as *Skuda, "archer" (to which he also related the name of Sogdia). In the language of the Sakâ paradrayâ, this became *Skula, accounting for Herodotus' statement that the Royal Scythians (the chief tribe of the Sakâ paradrayâ) called themselves Skolotoi. Szemerényi believed Sakâ came from an Iranian root meaning "roam," and was therefore an exonym given to them by the Persians.
History
There are two popular theories regarding Scythian origins: One states that they branched off from the second-millennium BC Andronovo culture in the area of Central Asia northeast of modern Iran; the other has them develop from the Srubna culture, which occupied the land to the north of and between the Black and Caspian seas during the same period.
A competing - not so much theory as way of assessing the situation - states that the literate Greeks and Persians applied "Skythoi" and "Sakâ" so broadly to distinct Steppe peoples as to make trying to pin down a singular origin for them futile by nature. It is true that Europeans would continue to apply the term "Scythian" to people who came out of the same regions as the Classical Scythians many centuries later, and such indiscriminate use may have already occurred in our period.
Archaeologically speaking, the Scythians we discuss belong to what is called the Scytho-Siberian culture, a very widespread set of material cultural practices (almost certainly shared by completely unrelated peoples) that include such things as a highly equestrian way of life, kurgan tombs, the B-shaped composite bow, the akinakes sword, styles of artwork and so on.
The Scythians along the Black Sea had as their immediate northerly neighbors farming people whom Herodotus lumps with the Scythians; these may be the Chernoles culture, a possibly proto-Slavic archaeological group who appear to have come under Scythian domination. Herodotus devotes much of book IV to the customs of the Black Sea Scythians. He says that they blinded those whom they took as slaves and forced them to churn butter.
The Royal Scythians seem to have enjoyed a period of power in West Asia. Herodotus reports that their king Madyes son of Protothyes defeated Cyaxares in battle (probably in the mid-seventh century) and subjected the Medes for 28 years, plundering many other lands besides, until Cyaxares hosted some of their nobles, got them drunk and, well, things didn't turn out so well for them. They also took part in the coalition that destroyed the Assyrian empire at the end of the century.
According to Herodotus, Darius the Great attempted to conquer the Black Sea Scythians, an event dated to around 512. He crossed the Bosphorus with a pontoon bridge, turned east and found nothing. The Scythians waged a scorched earth campaign, fleeing before his army, destroying pastures and attacking his supply lines. Darius wrote to their king Idanthyrsus a challenge to either fight or submit; Idanthyrsus replied that, as his people were nomads, he had no reason to do either, and only if Darius could find and try to destroy their fathers' kurgans could he expect a pitched battle. With his men exhausted from the endless pursuit, Darius stopped at the Volga River, built some frontier fortresses and then left unsatisfied.
He had long since pacified the Sakâ tigrakhaudâ, who were apparently already subjects at the time of his ascension. In his Behistun inscription, he states that they revolted along with the other provinces, probably around 520-519. They had two chiefs, one of whom was killed and the other, named Skunkha, captured; Darius then appointed a new chief. The pointed-hat Scythians are illustrated at Persepolis bearing clothing and a horse. They are among the few people other than the Persians, Elamites and Medes who are armed, and some writers believe this fact indicates a degree of privilege in the imperial system. Herodotus states that they made up the 10th tax district, together with the Medes and Paricanians, paying 450 talents yearly.
The Pausikoi or Apâ Sakâ enter into Classical history very rarely, but are mentioned as part of the 11th tax district, together with the Caspians, Pantimathi and Daritae, paying 200 talents. They are probably the same people who appear in Hellenistic history as the Apasiakai (Lat. Apasiacae).
Ctesias attributed the conquest of the Amyrgian Scythians to Cyrus. He believed that the Amyrgians were named for their king Amorges. Personally I think the Persian etymology of "haoma-drinking" is more likely, but I'm only an amateur. Ctesias said that Cyrus captured Amorges, whose wife Sparethra waged war and captured several high-ranking Persians. The prisoners were exchanged and the Amyrgians allied with the Persians, fighting alongside them in Lydia. Iranologist Alireza Shahbazi regarded Ctesias' overall narrative as containing so many errors "that it borders on fiction." The name Amorges is not an invention, but it was a Persian name, that of a son of Pissuthnes the satrap of Lydia.
Scythians fought in both the 490 and 480 Persian invasions of Greece. At Marathon, they were posted in the center of the battle line next to the Persians, and were able to withstand the hoplite charge (which was weakest at the center on this occasion). In Xerxes' invasion, the Amyrgians served under the king's half-brother Hystaspes. They fought both on land and as marines, thus were presumably present at Artemision and Salamis, and some were retained by Mardonius to fight at Plataia. Herodotus calls the Scythians the best cavalry in the Persian army at the last battle.
The Black Sea Scythians grew wealthier during the fifth century in large part due to the slave trade from Central Asia to Europe. Around the turn of the fourth century, King Ateas ascended to the throne of the Royal Scythians. During the first half of the century, he centralized royal authority all along the north coast of the Black Sea. In the 340s, he had a snippy diplomatic relationship with Philip of Macedon, which resulted in a battle and Ateas' death at modern Dobruja in 339.
Eastern Scythians fought at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 as part of Bessus' cavalry. In the same year, Alexander's governor of Thrace or Pontus (sources differ on this), Zopyrion, invaded the kingdom of Scythia for want of something better to do, laid a failed siege to Olbia and was killed while retreating. In 329, an army from Scythia invaded Alexander's empire from the north, but was defeated at the Battle of Jaxartes near modern Tashkent.
The post-Classical history of the Scythian peoples is too complex to cover here. In east and west, Scythian peoples continued on their various ways, but mostly disappeared over the centuries. In the third century BC Scythia collapsed under pressure from Thracians, Celts and Sarmatians. Eastern Scythians settled in Drangiana, creating Sakastan (modern Sīstān) during the early Arsacid period, while others settled in India to create the Indo-Scythian kingdom - all for naught; both have long since disappeared into the native populations.
One last note: The Scythians are often said to have been the inspiration for the Amazons in Greek mythology. This is an oversimplification of things. There is evidence that Amazons were established in Greek myth well before contact with the Scythians. It is true both that many Scythian women have been found buried with weapons and the Greeks have spoken of Scythian female warriors, and that late Archaic and Classical art often shows Amazons in Asiatic clothing. On the other hand, other Greek art shows the Amazons in Greek men's tunics. Herodotus regarded the Amazons and Scythians as separate peoples and believed the Sauromatians were a tribe of mixed Scythian and Amazon ancestry. Most likely, the Greeks during the Archaic concluded that the Amazons were a Steppe people, or used the Scythians as models for later portrayals of their Amazons, because few other peoples in the world had such numbers of female warriors.
Language
The Scythian language or languages are scarcely-attested from a handful of proper names of people and tribes and possibly a seventh-century inscription from Saqqez, Iran, recording what may be a reference to King Protothyes (as "Partitava"), a Scythian who married an Assyrian princess. Most Western scholars regard Scythian as being Eastern Iranian, and part of a Scytho-Sarmatian group which gave rise to the language of the Alans and, in turn, modern Ossetian. The better-attested Eastern Iranian languages of the later kingdoms of Khotan and Tumshuq in what is now western China are thought to be derived from Scythian as well, and are termed "Sakan."
Religion
Scythians were polytheists whom Herodotus says worshipped a seven-member pantheon: Tabiti (whom he regards as the same as the Greek Hestia), Papaios (Zeus), Apia (Gaia), Goitosyros (Apollo), Argimpasa (Uranian Aphrodite), someone whom he calls Heracles, Agin (Ares) and, among the Royal Scythians, Thagimasadas (Poseidon). The vagaries of interpretatio graeca must be kept in mind: It's unlikely that these gods derive from the same sources as those whom Herodotus considers their Greek equivalents.
Tabiti, he says, was most important, but only Agin had temples (of a sort) dedicated to him: In each district, bundles of sticks would be formed into a vast platform three eighths of a mile long and wide, with an akinakes in the middle representing the god himself; new wood was stacked on top as the older wood settled or broke down.
Animal sacrifices, mainly horses, were offered to various gods. Animals were ritually strangled, the meat carved and boiled and part of it then cast on the ground (which reminds me somewhat of the Magian rite). At the temples of Agin, a yearly sacrifice of sheep, goats, horses and enemy prisoners was performed.
The historian also states that a priestly caste of transvestites existed called the Enarei, blessed by Argimpasa to divine the future with strips of linden bark. The name of the Sakâ haumavargâ suggests that they borrowed or retained the ancient Indo-Iranian practice of drinking haoma/soma at religious ceremonies.
Clothing
Most Scythians wore a variant of the cavalry costume, featuring loose-fitting trousers rather than Medo-Persian tights, and a coat held closed by a belt. Most art (with the exception of the Naqš-e Rostam reliefs) shows the coat as overlapping somewhat in the front. At Pazyryk in Siberia, a Scytho-Siberian jacket was found made out of felt rather than woven cloth, and other sites have yielded felt stockings. An abundance of sheep and goat wool, and the relative simplicity of making and working with felt, may have increased its appeal to the Steppe nomads. These nomads, Asiatic Scythians included, also obtained and traded silk on the Silk Road of which they were a part.
The Sakâ tigrakhaudâ wore tiaras with very tall tapering peaks, probably treated felt or leather, or having an internal reinforcement. At Persepolis and Behistun, they otherwise wear Medo-Persian costume, but at Naqš-e Rostam the one present is shown in normal Scythian garb, albeit with a tall hat. Other Scythians wore less spectacular styles of tiara, though they were still usually more pointed than those worn by other peoples.
In most art, Scythians wear low shoes (which I would guess to be similar to Medo-Persian ones), but some pieces from the Black Sea area show pull-on boots that come up to above the ankle.
Weapons
Use of the classic Central Asian recurved composite bow and the attendant gorytos is well-documented. Arrowheads in the same trilobate style as the Persians and Greeks were used, as were leaf-shaped ones with extended sockets; these latter sometimes had a single recurved barb sticking off the socket. Greek and Roman writers said that when going to war, Scythians dipped their arrows in a noxious substance composed of rotting viper corpses, blood and animal dung, the result of which was that even minor wounds would result in simultaneous poisoning and infection.
The Black Sea Scythians' iron swords could be larger than Achaemenid ones, some examples reaching up to two feet overall (almost as big as a Roman gladius) and often featuring loosely-curled antennae or horns on the pommel, though I confess I don't know the time period during which this sub-style evolved. Otherwise, the small akinakes with the T-shaped pommel was common. Swords and knives were still sometimes made of bronze.
Another distinctive Scythian weapon was the sagaris, a small-headed, tomahawk-like battleaxe. The sagaris could be bronze or iron, and had a flared cutting edge, usually a long back spike and a thin straight handle. Scythians also used spears and javelins which were much like those found elsewhere in the ancient world, with socketed, leaf-shaped iron points.
Scythian shields seem to have been commonly made of thin hide (I unfortunately have yet to find analyses of whether rawhide or tanned leather was used) densely woven through with sticks while wet; essentially like smaller versions of Achaemenid shields. Various shapes were known from Pazyryk, and the famous Solokha comb shows one crescent and one which is a sideways rectangle. The crescent seems to have been a very common shape from the Balkans through the Iranian plateau.
Body armor was usually made of scale. Corslets were either of a simple tunic shape or modeled after the Greek tube-and-yoke thorax, and the Scytho-Siberians seem to have pioneered the use of scale neck guards. Shields were also sometimes covered in scale. In the fifth century, pointed leather caps covered with scale began to replace the earlier Kuban-type helmet, which was of solid bronze and fitted close to the head with a low browline (but no nasal guard). Imported Greek helmets (in the Corinthian and derivative styles) also became popular at this time.
The term Scythian (O.P. Sakâ, also Gk. Sakai, Lat. Sacae) broadly glosses a number of ancient peoples who shared the culture of the Great Steppe such as it was in Classical antiquity and may have spoken closely-related languages. They were spread over a very wide area:
• The Amyrgian Scythians or Sakâ haumavargâ ("haoma-drinking Scythians") lived in or about modern Uzbekistan. • The Orthocorybantians or Sakâ tigrakhaudâ ("pointed-hat Scythians") were north of Parthia in present Turkmenistan
• The Pausikoi or Apâ Sakâ ("water Scythians") appear to have been somewhat northeast of the Sakâ tigrakhaudâ.
• The Sakâ paradrayâ ("Scythians across the sea") lived north of the Black Sea in the modern Ukraine and part of Romania. They were not part of the Persian empire. These are the folk whom the Greeks referred to simply as Scythians (Skythoi), without qualification.
The Dahae (Dahâ) and Massagetae (*Mâh Sakâ?), who lived in what is now south-central Kazakhstan, are sometimes glossed as Scythian peoples, but for brevity's sake, I won't cover them here. This history will attempt to treat the first four peoples.
Linguist Oswald Szemerényi regarded Skythoi and Sakâ as coming from different roots. The former, he said, derived from an Indo-European root meaning "shoot" and reconstructed in the original Scythian as *Skuda, "archer" (to which he also related the name of Sogdia). In the language of the Sakâ paradrayâ, this became *Skula, accounting for Herodotus' statement that the Royal Scythians (the chief tribe of the Sakâ paradrayâ) called themselves Skolotoi. Szemerényi believed Sakâ came from an Iranian root meaning "roam," and was therefore an exonym given to them by the Persians.
History
There are two popular theories regarding Scythian origins: One states that they branched off from the second-millennium BC Andronovo culture in the area of Central Asia northeast of modern Iran; the other has them develop from the Srubna culture, which occupied the land to the north of and between the Black and Caspian seas during the same period.
A competing - not so much theory as way of assessing the situation - states that the literate Greeks and Persians applied "Skythoi" and "Sakâ" so broadly to distinct Steppe peoples as to make trying to pin down a singular origin for them futile by nature. It is true that Europeans would continue to apply the term "Scythian" to people who came out of the same regions as the Classical Scythians many centuries later, and such indiscriminate use may have already occurred in our period.
Archaeologically speaking, the Scythians we discuss belong to what is called the Scytho-Siberian culture, a very widespread set of material cultural practices (almost certainly shared by completely unrelated peoples) that include such things as a highly equestrian way of life, kurgan tombs, the B-shaped composite bow, the akinakes sword, styles of artwork and so on.
The Scythians along the Black Sea had as their immediate northerly neighbors farming people whom Herodotus lumps with the Scythians; these may be the Chernoles culture, a possibly proto-Slavic archaeological group who appear to have come under Scythian domination. Herodotus devotes much of book IV to the customs of the Black Sea Scythians. He says that they blinded those whom they took as slaves and forced them to churn butter.
The Royal Scythians seem to have enjoyed a period of power in West Asia. Herodotus reports that their king Madyes son of Protothyes defeated Cyaxares in battle (probably in the mid-seventh century) and subjected the Medes for 28 years, plundering many other lands besides, until Cyaxares hosted some of their nobles, got them drunk and, well, things didn't turn out so well for them. They also took part in the coalition that destroyed the Assyrian empire at the end of the century.
According to Herodotus, Darius the Great attempted to conquer the Black Sea Scythians, an event dated to around 512. He crossed the Bosphorus with a pontoon bridge, turned east and found nothing. The Scythians waged a scorched earth campaign, fleeing before his army, destroying pastures and attacking his supply lines. Darius wrote to their king Idanthyrsus a challenge to either fight or submit; Idanthyrsus replied that, as his people were nomads, he had no reason to do either, and only if Darius could find and try to destroy their fathers' kurgans could he expect a pitched battle. With his men exhausted from the endless pursuit, Darius stopped at the Volga River, built some frontier fortresses and then left unsatisfied.
He had long since pacified the Sakâ tigrakhaudâ, who were apparently already subjects at the time of his ascension. In his Behistun inscription, he states that they revolted along with the other provinces, probably around 520-519. They had two chiefs, one of whom was killed and the other, named Skunkha, captured; Darius then appointed a new chief. The pointed-hat Scythians are illustrated at Persepolis bearing clothing and a horse. They are among the few people other than the Persians, Elamites and Medes who are armed, and some writers believe this fact indicates a degree of privilege in the imperial system. Herodotus states that they made up the 10th tax district, together with the Medes and Paricanians, paying 450 talents yearly.
The Pausikoi or Apâ Sakâ enter into Classical history very rarely, but are mentioned as part of the 11th tax district, together with the Caspians, Pantimathi and Daritae, paying 200 talents. They are probably the same people who appear in Hellenistic history as the Apasiakai (Lat. Apasiacae).
Ctesias attributed the conquest of the Amyrgian Scythians to Cyrus. He believed that the Amyrgians were named for their king Amorges. Personally I think the Persian etymology of "haoma-drinking" is more likely, but I'm only an amateur. Ctesias said that Cyrus captured Amorges, whose wife Sparethra waged war and captured several high-ranking Persians. The prisoners were exchanged and the Amyrgians allied with the Persians, fighting alongside them in Lydia. Iranologist Alireza Shahbazi regarded Ctesias' overall narrative as containing so many errors "that it borders on fiction." The name Amorges is not an invention, but it was a Persian name, that of a son of Pissuthnes the satrap of Lydia.
Scythians fought in both the 490 and 480 Persian invasions of Greece. At Marathon, they were posted in the center of the battle line next to the Persians, and were able to withstand the hoplite charge (which was weakest at the center on this occasion). In Xerxes' invasion, the Amyrgians served under the king's half-brother Hystaspes. They fought both on land and as marines, thus were presumably present at Artemision and Salamis, and some were retained by Mardonius to fight at Plataia. Herodotus calls the Scythians the best cavalry in the Persian army at the last battle.
The Black Sea Scythians grew wealthier during the fifth century in large part due to the slave trade from Central Asia to Europe. Around the turn of the fourth century, King Ateas ascended to the throne of the Royal Scythians. During the first half of the century, he centralized royal authority all along the north coast of the Black Sea. In the 340s, he had a snippy diplomatic relationship with Philip of Macedon, which resulted in a battle and Ateas' death at modern Dobruja in 339.
Eastern Scythians fought at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 as part of Bessus' cavalry. In the same year, Alexander's governor of Thrace or Pontus (sources differ on this), Zopyrion, invaded the kingdom of Scythia for want of something better to do, laid a failed siege to Olbia and was killed while retreating. In 329, an army from Scythia invaded Alexander's empire from the north, but was defeated at the Battle of Jaxartes near modern Tashkent.
The post-Classical history of the Scythian peoples is too complex to cover here. In east and west, Scythian peoples continued on their various ways, but mostly disappeared over the centuries. In the third century BC Scythia collapsed under pressure from Thracians, Celts and Sarmatians. Eastern Scythians settled in Drangiana, creating Sakastan (modern Sīstān) during the early Arsacid period, while others settled in India to create the Indo-Scythian kingdom - all for naught; both have long since disappeared into the native populations.
One last note: The Scythians are often said to have been the inspiration for the Amazons in Greek mythology. This is an oversimplification of things. There is evidence that Amazons were established in Greek myth well before contact with the Scythians. It is true both that many Scythian women have been found buried with weapons and the Greeks have spoken of Scythian female warriors, and that late Archaic and Classical art often shows Amazons in Asiatic clothing. On the other hand, other Greek art shows the Amazons in Greek men's tunics. Herodotus regarded the Amazons and Scythians as separate peoples and believed the Sauromatians were a tribe of mixed Scythian and Amazon ancestry. Most likely, the Greeks during the Archaic concluded that the Amazons were a Steppe people, or used the Scythians as models for later portrayals of their Amazons, because few other peoples in the world had such numbers of female warriors.
Language
The Scythian language or languages are scarcely-attested from a handful of proper names of people and tribes and possibly a seventh-century inscription from Saqqez, Iran, recording what may be a reference to King Protothyes (as "Partitava"), a Scythian who married an Assyrian princess. Most Western scholars regard Scythian as being Eastern Iranian, and part of a Scytho-Sarmatian group which gave rise to the language of the Alans and, in turn, modern Ossetian. The better-attested Eastern Iranian languages of the later kingdoms of Khotan and Tumshuq in what is now western China are thought to be derived from Scythian as well, and are termed "Sakan."
Religion
Scythians were polytheists whom Herodotus says worshipped a seven-member pantheon: Tabiti (whom he regards as the same as the Greek Hestia), Papaios (Zeus), Apia (Gaia), Goitosyros (Apollo), Argimpasa (Uranian Aphrodite), someone whom he calls Heracles, Agin (Ares) and, among the Royal Scythians, Thagimasadas (Poseidon). The vagaries of interpretatio graeca must be kept in mind: It's unlikely that these gods derive from the same sources as those whom Herodotus considers their Greek equivalents.
Tabiti, he says, was most important, but only Agin had temples (of a sort) dedicated to him: In each district, bundles of sticks would be formed into a vast platform three eighths of a mile long and wide, with an akinakes in the middle representing the god himself; new wood was stacked on top as the older wood settled or broke down.
Animal sacrifices, mainly horses, were offered to various gods. Animals were ritually strangled, the meat carved and boiled and part of it then cast on the ground (which reminds me somewhat of the Magian rite). At the temples of Agin, a yearly sacrifice of sheep, goats, horses and enemy prisoners was performed.
The historian also states that a priestly caste of transvestites existed called the Enarei, blessed by Argimpasa to divine the future with strips of linden bark. The name of the Sakâ haumavargâ suggests that they borrowed or retained the ancient Indo-Iranian practice of drinking haoma/soma at religious ceremonies.
Clothing
Most Scythians wore a variant of the cavalry costume, featuring loose-fitting trousers rather than Medo-Persian tights, and a coat held closed by a belt. Most art (with the exception of the Naqš-e Rostam reliefs) shows the coat as overlapping somewhat in the front. At Pazyryk in Siberia, a Scytho-Siberian jacket was found made out of felt rather than woven cloth, and other sites have yielded felt stockings. An abundance of sheep and goat wool, and the relative simplicity of making and working with felt, may have increased its appeal to the Steppe nomads. These nomads, Asiatic Scythians included, also obtained and traded silk on the Silk Road of which they were a part.
The Sakâ tigrakhaudâ wore tiaras with very tall tapering peaks, probably treated felt or leather, or having an internal reinforcement. At Persepolis and Behistun, they otherwise wear Medo-Persian costume, but at Naqš-e Rostam the one present is shown in normal Scythian garb, albeit with a tall hat. Other Scythians wore less spectacular styles of tiara, though they were still usually more pointed than those worn by other peoples.
In most art, Scythians wear low shoes (which I would guess to be similar to Medo-Persian ones), but some pieces from the Black Sea area show pull-on boots that come up to above the ankle.
Weapons
Use of the classic Central Asian recurved composite bow and the attendant gorytos is well-documented. Arrowheads in the same trilobate style as the Persians and Greeks were used, as were leaf-shaped ones with extended sockets; these latter sometimes had a single recurved barb sticking off the socket. Greek and Roman writers said that when going to war, Scythians dipped their arrows in a noxious substance composed of rotting viper corpses, blood and animal dung, the result of which was that even minor wounds would result in simultaneous poisoning and infection.
The Black Sea Scythians' iron swords could be larger than Achaemenid ones, some examples reaching up to two feet overall (almost as big as a Roman gladius) and often featuring loosely-curled antennae or horns on the pommel, though I confess I don't know the time period during which this sub-style evolved. Otherwise, the small akinakes with the T-shaped pommel was common. Swords and knives were still sometimes made of bronze.
Another distinctive Scythian weapon was the sagaris, a small-headed, tomahawk-like battleaxe. The sagaris could be bronze or iron, and had a flared cutting edge, usually a long back spike and a thin straight handle. Scythians also used spears and javelins which were much like those found elsewhere in the ancient world, with socketed, leaf-shaped iron points.
Scythian shields seem to have been commonly made of thin hide (I unfortunately have yet to find analyses of whether rawhide or tanned leather was used) densely woven through with sticks while wet; essentially like smaller versions of Achaemenid shields. Various shapes were known from Pazyryk, and the famous Solokha comb shows one crescent and one which is a sideways rectangle. The crescent seems to have been a very common shape from the Balkans through the Iranian plateau.
Body armor was usually made of scale. Corslets were either of a simple tunic shape or modeled after the Greek tube-and-yoke thorax, and the Scytho-Siberians seem to have pioneered the use of scale neck guards. Shields were also sometimes covered in scale. In the fifth century, pointed leather caps covered with scale began to replace the earlier Kuban-type helmet, which was of solid bronze and fitted close to the head with a low browline (but no nasal guard). Imported Greek helmets (in the Corinthian and derivative styles) also became popular at this time.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Medes
History
Herodotus writes that the Medes (Gk. Medoi) were originally called (as rendered in Greek) Arioi, which is almost assuredly related to Old Persian self-designation Ariya, "Aryans." The Median language is scarcely attested, but appears to have been in the Northwestern Iranian branch and possibly ancestral to Old Azeri.
The historian also says they consisted of six tribes, called (in Latin translation) the Busae (Gk. Busai), Parataceni (Paratakenoi), Struchates (Strukhatai), Arizanti (Arizantoi), Budii (Budioi) and Magi (Magoi). Magi (sing. magus, Gk. mágos) elsewhere in Greek histories refers to the priests of Media and Persia, and some historians believe that they are one and the same; in other words, that the Median tribe traditionally acted as the Iranians' priests, as the tribe of Levi did among the Israelites.
There is no certainty that the Biblical Magi were Medes, or any sort of Iranians: By the late Hellenistic period, the term had become generic for priests and scholars from Mesopotamia, the Iranian plateau and the Indian subcontinent. Its association with occult knowledge, by extension, gave rise to the words "magic" and "mage." For all that, early portrayals of the Biblical Magi do show them in Iranian (specifically Parthian) clothing, though this may simply be meant to indicate that they came from the same general part of the world.
Media (O.P. Māda) was the first nation the Persians conquered. It was located in the central Zagros north of Persia. According to Greek histories, the Medes formed a centralized monarchy centered at Ecbatana (O.P. Hamgmatana, modern Hamadan) between the 7th century BC and 549, when Cyrus overthrew them. There is as yet no clear archaeological record of such a state. It likely was more of a tribal confederation, lacking the Achaemenids' political centralization.
The Medes and Persians were at least nominally subject to the Assyrians and often suffered raids or had to pay tribute to them, but between 616 and 605 the Medes allied with the Babylonians and Scythians in overthrowing the Neo-Assyrian empire. The defeat left the Median confederation and the Babylonian empire as the two great spheres of influence in West Asia, Babylon in most of the Middle East, and Media from the Halys River (modern Kızılırmak) in Turkey to perhaps as far east as Bactria in northern Afghanistan and south as far as Persia.
According to Herodotus, Cyrus was the son of a Median princess and Persian tributary king, thus leading to the famous Delphian quip that Lydia (Cyrus' next conquest) would fall "when a mule sits on the throne of Media." Medes remained an important part of the early Achaemenid government and military, providing officers such as Mazares and Harpagus, who conquered Asia Minor under Cyrus, and Datis, who (together with Artaphernes) led the first Persian invasion of Greece.
After Alexander conquered the empire, he divided Media into northern and southern satrapies, eventually reinstating the native satrap Atropates (Âtarepâta or Aturpat), who went on to found the kingdom of Atropatene (Aturpatakan), which lent its name to both the Iranian province and the state of Azerbaijan. The Medes themselves are often held to be ancestral to the Kurds.
Dress, arms and fighting methods
We've already, for all practical purposes, covered Median clothing and arms, which were very similar to those of the Persians, but lacking the elements borrowed from the Elamites, such as the court robe. Like the Persians, they relied heavily on cavalry and wore the cavalry costume, both in combat and at the royal court. The Medes in Achaemenid art are attested as carrying the gorytus and akinakes, and are usually identified by their large domed hats. However, you can also elect to wear a tiara or kidaris, which is the usual headwear for "Persians" in Greek art of the time.
Herodotus writes that the Medes (Gk. Medoi) were originally called (as rendered in Greek) Arioi, which is almost assuredly related to Old Persian self-designation Ariya, "Aryans." The Median language is scarcely attested, but appears to have been in the Northwestern Iranian branch and possibly ancestral to Old Azeri.
The historian also says they consisted of six tribes, called (in Latin translation) the Busae (Gk. Busai), Parataceni (Paratakenoi), Struchates (Strukhatai), Arizanti (Arizantoi), Budii (Budioi) and Magi (Magoi). Magi (sing. magus, Gk. mágos) elsewhere in Greek histories refers to the priests of Media and Persia, and some historians believe that they are one and the same; in other words, that the Median tribe traditionally acted as the Iranians' priests, as the tribe of Levi did among the Israelites.
There is no certainty that the Biblical Magi were Medes, or any sort of Iranians: By the late Hellenistic period, the term had become generic for priests and scholars from Mesopotamia, the Iranian plateau and the Indian subcontinent. Its association with occult knowledge, by extension, gave rise to the words "magic" and "mage." For all that, early portrayals of the Biblical Magi do show them in Iranian (specifically Parthian) clothing, though this may simply be meant to indicate that they came from the same general part of the world.
Media (O.P. Māda) was the first nation the Persians conquered. It was located in the central Zagros north of Persia. According to Greek histories, the Medes formed a centralized monarchy centered at Ecbatana (O.P. Hamgmatana, modern Hamadan) between the 7th century BC and 549, when Cyrus overthrew them. There is as yet no clear archaeological record of such a state. It likely was more of a tribal confederation, lacking the Achaemenids' political centralization.
The Medes and Persians were at least nominally subject to the Assyrians and often suffered raids or had to pay tribute to them, but between 616 and 605 the Medes allied with the Babylonians and Scythians in overthrowing the Neo-Assyrian empire. The defeat left the Median confederation and the Babylonian empire as the two great spheres of influence in West Asia, Babylon in most of the Middle East, and Media from the Halys River (modern Kızılırmak) in Turkey to perhaps as far east as Bactria in northern Afghanistan and south as far as Persia.
According to Herodotus, Cyrus was the son of a Median princess and Persian tributary king, thus leading to the famous Delphian quip that Lydia (Cyrus' next conquest) would fall "when a mule sits on the throne of Media." Medes remained an important part of the early Achaemenid government and military, providing officers such as Mazares and Harpagus, who conquered Asia Minor under Cyrus, and Datis, who (together with Artaphernes) led the first Persian invasion of Greece.
After Alexander conquered the empire, he divided Media into northern and southern satrapies, eventually reinstating the native satrap Atropates (Âtarepâta or Aturpat), who went on to found the kingdom of Atropatene (Aturpatakan), which lent its name to both the Iranian province and the state of Azerbaijan. The Medes themselves are often held to be ancestral to the Kurds.
Dress, arms and fighting methods
We've already, for all practical purposes, covered Median clothing and arms, which were very similar to those of the Persians, but lacking the elements borrowed from the Elamites, such as the court robe. Like the Persians, they relied heavily on cavalry and wore the cavalry costume, both in combat and at the royal court. The Medes in Achaemenid art are attested as carrying the gorytus and akinakes, and are usually identified by their large domed hats. However, you can also elect to wear a tiara or kidaris, which is the usual headwear for "Persians" in Greek art of the time.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Peoples of the empire: The Elamites
So far, this blog has focused on the history, society, clothing and arms of the Persians. However, it was rare for any Achaemenid army to lack a significant number of troops from other nations. This week, I'll begin a series of brief overviews on other national contingents found in the imperial armies during the Graeco-Persian wars.
We'll start with the Elamites. I'd like to point out that because of certain difficulties with the uniquely Elamite costume, I don't recommend attempting it at this time.
History
Elam (Hebrew, derived from Elamite Haltamti) emerged as a civilization around 6,000 years ago and developed unique writing systems around 3000 BC, though only those documents written in cuneiform (2200 onward) have yet been decipered. They thus predate the arrival of Indo-Europeans like the Iranians by many centuries. Their language was either an isolate or possibly a sort of aunt to the Dravidian family, now represented mainly in South India and Sri Lanka. They were polytheists, though I assume that over time, as Iranic culture became dominant in the area, their descendants took up early forms of Zoroastrianism and related faiths.
The country lay in the southwestern Iranian Plateau and its foothills. Its most important cities were Susa (modern Shush) in Khuzestan Province and Anshan in Fars, the latter close to where Pasargadae and Persepolis were later built, and their kings frequently styled themselves "King of Anshan and Susa." The name of Khuzestan derives from Susa via Old Persian "Huza" due to the Iranic tendency to transform initial S into H (cf. Sanskrit Sapta Sindhu, "[land of] seven rivers" = Avestan Hapta Hendu*); it later hardened into KH.
Elam was a powerful state that competed with Babylonia and Assyria for much of the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC. However, a few centuries in, war had weakened and disunited the kingdoms. At this time some Persians appear to have peacefully immigrated and settled alongside the Elamites, while others remained as nomadic tribes. As Cyrus the Great in his famous Babylonian cylinder described himself as King of Anshan, it appears the Persians had at some point seized power in the ancient capital. If Achaemenes existed, he may have been the first Persian king of Anshan.
The early Achaemenids would use Elamite as one of the languages in their inscriptions and administrative tablets. In these records appear people identified as Elamites but bearing Iranian names. It is likely that as time went on, the Elamites were absorbed by the Persians.
Dress
The robe
At Naqš-i Rustam, the tomb of Darius the Great, a table of nations is carved representing the Great King under Ahura Mazda supported by the many peoples of the empire, each identified by nationality. The first three are a Persian, a Mede and an Elamite. The Elamite wears a long, pleated robe identical to that of the Persian, while the Mede and all other Iranic peoples other than the Persian wear some sort of cavalry costume (tunic or jacket and trousers). However, in most art not produced for the Great King, the Persians are seen wearing the cavalry costume, which Herodotus attributes to the Medes. The simplest explanation is that rather than being specifically Median, the cavalry costume is actually the common dress of all Iranic peoples including the Persians, who adopted the robe when they came into contact with the Elamites. Because it's seen in art produced for the royal court and the king's use, it's believed the Persians wore it as formalwear and so is also called the court robe or court dress.
The associated strapped/buttoned shoes are probably Elamite as well. The best image I have found of these shoes is the fifth photo on this page. I don't know how they were constructed.
The robe falls to just above the ankles and rises slightly where it is pleated in one or two long gathers down the front. The gathering is held in place by a narrow, square-knotted sash probably made of fabric. A good three-dimensional representation can be seen on the Egyptian statue of Darius the Great. The upper appears to have been covered by a sort of poncho. A frontwise view of this poncho (if such it is) may be seen in the fourth photo here.
Cavalry costume
In any case, Elamites on campaign in the Graeco-Persian wars probably wore Medo-Persian dress (tunic and trousers). I have never seen any images of the Elamite robe in Greek art. According to Herodotus, "The Cissians [people of Susa] in the army were equipped like the Persians, but they wore turbans instead of caps" (7.62, tr. A.D. Godley). The translation "turban" may be misleading; it probably refers to the twisted headbands seen on many soldiers who wear the robe in imperial art, whereas "cap" is probably the earflapped tiara.
Arms and fighting methods
Elam was not a heavily equestrian culture, so they probably fought in a manner similar to Persian infantry. The tradition of large pavises and archery is also seen in Mesopotamian warfare.
The bow
Their bows were the D-shaped ones with recurved tips also associated with Elamite dress in Achaemenid art, which are again similar to Mesopotamian models. It was popular for the tips to be highly recurved and carved into birds' heads, but unfortunately no one I know of sells anything like this off the shelf. The best option is probably an Assyrian bow. Grozer Archery sometimes has some available, and you can find more with a simple Internet search, although be sure to ask around for recommendations (arms sites such as RAT and myArmoury are a good place to start).
The strung bow was carried around the left shoulder rather than in a case. Arrows were kept in a large quiver behind the right shoulder.
Some soldiers in robes can be seen wearing gorytoi, which presumably contained the Scythian or B-shaped bows.
The dagger
The Elamites, and Persians dressing like them, also wore a dagger with a very wide, offset throat, tucked into their sashes diagonally across the belly. The aforementioned Egyptian statue also provides a good closeup of this weapon. I know of no archaeological findings, nor what they looked like when drawn from their scabbards, but based on the shape of the hilt, I surmise that they had tapered blades and were similar to earlier West Asian bronze swords with flanged slab tangs. The large iron sword from Persepolis may be a related type.
We'll start with the Elamites. I'd like to point out that because of certain difficulties with the uniquely Elamite costume, I don't recommend attempting it at this time.
History
Elam (Hebrew, derived from Elamite Haltamti) emerged as a civilization around 6,000 years ago and developed unique writing systems around 3000 BC, though only those documents written in cuneiform (2200 onward) have yet been decipered. They thus predate the arrival of Indo-Europeans like the Iranians by many centuries. Their language was either an isolate or possibly a sort of aunt to the Dravidian family, now represented mainly in South India and Sri Lanka. They were polytheists, though I assume that over time, as Iranic culture became dominant in the area, their descendants took up early forms of Zoroastrianism and related faiths.
The country lay in the southwestern Iranian Plateau and its foothills. Its most important cities were Susa (modern Shush) in Khuzestan Province and Anshan in Fars, the latter close to where Pasargadae and Persepolis were later built, and their kings frequently styled themselves "King of Anshan and Susa." The name of Khuzestan derives from Susa via Old Persian "Huza" due to the Iranic tendency to transform initial S into H (cf. Sanskrit Sapta Sindhu, "[land of] seven rivers" = Avestan Hapta Hendu*); it later hardened into KH.
Elam was a powerful state that competed with Babylonia and Assyria for much of the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC. However, a few centuries in, war had weakened and disunited the kingdoms. At this time some Persians appear to have peacefully immigrated and settled alongside the Elamites, while others remained as nomadic tribes. As Cyrus the Great in his famous Babylonian cylinder described himself as King of Anshan, it appears the Persians had at some point seized power in the ancient capital. If Achaemenes existed, he may have been the first Persian king of Anshan.
The early Achaemenids would use Elamite as one of the languages in their inscriptions and administrative tablets. In these records appear people identified as Elamites but bearing Iranian names. It is likely that as time went on, the Elamites were absorbed by the Persians.
Dress
The robe
At Naqš-i Rustam, the tomb of Darius the Great, a table of nations is carved representing the Great King under Ahura Mazda supported by the many peoples of the empire, each identified by nationality. The first three are a Persian, a Mede and an Elamite. The Elamite wears a long, pleated robe identical to that of the Persian, while the Mede and all other Iranic peoples other than the Persian wear some sort of cavalry costume (tunic or jacket and trousers). However, in most art not produced for the Great King, the Persians are seen wearing the cavalry costume, which Herodotus attributes to the Medes. The simplest explanation is that rather than being specifically Median, the cavalry costume is actually the common dress of all Iranic peoples including the Persians, who adopted the robe when they came into contact with the Elamites. Because it's seen in art produced for the royal court and the king's use, it's believed the Persians wore it as formalwear and so is also called the court robe or court dress.
The associated strapped/buttoned shoes are probably Elamite as well. The best image I have found of these shoes is the fifth photo on this page. I don't know how they were constructed.
The robe falls to just above the ankles and rises slightly where it is pleated in one or two long gathers down the front. The gathering is held in place by a narrow, square-knotted sash probably made of fabric. A good three-dimensional representation can be seen on the Egyptian statue of Darius the Great. The upper appears to have been covered by a sort of poncho. A frontwise view of this poncho (if such it is) may be seen in the fourth photo here.
Cavalry costume
In any case, Elamites on campaign in the Graeco-Persian wars probably wore Medo-Persian dress (tunic and trousers). I have never seen any images of the Elamite robe in Greek art. According to Herodotus, "The Cissians [people of Susa] in the army were equipped like the Persians, but they wore turbans instead of caps" (7.62, tr. A.D. Godley). The translation "turban" may be misleading; it probably refers to the twisted headbands seen on many soldiers who wear the robe in imperial art, whereas "cap" is probably the earflapped tiara.
Arms and fighting methods
Elam was not a heavily equestrian culture, so they probably fought in a manner similar to Persian infantry. The tradition of large pavises and archery is also seen in Mesopotamian warfare.
The bow
Their bows were the D-shaped ones with recurved tips also associated with Elamite dress in Achaemenid art, which are again similar to Mesopotamian models. It was popular for the tips to be highly recurved and carved into birds' heads, but unfortunately no one I know of sells anything like this off the shelf. The best option is probably an Assyrian bow. Grozer Archery sometimes has some available, and you can find more with a simple Internet search, although be sure to ask around for recommendations (arms sites such as RAT and myArmoury are a good place to start).
The strung bow was carried around the left shoulder rather than in a case. Arrows were kept in a large quiver behind the right shoulder.
Some soldiers in robes can be seen wearing gorytoi, which presumably contained the Scythian or B-shaped bows.
The dagger
The Elamites, and Persians dressing like them, also wore a dagger with a very wide, offset throat, tucked into their sashes diagonally across the belly. The aforementioned Egyptian statue also provides a good closeup of this weapon. I know of no archaeological findings, nor what they looked like when drawn from their scabbards, but based on the shape of the hilt, I surmise that they had tapered blades and were similar to earlier West Asian bronze swords with flanged slab tangs. The large iron sword from Persepolis may be a related type.
* The same shift occurs in Greek, as in hepta ("seven," modern efta) versus Latin septem.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Playing with the kidaris or tiara
Personally, I don't find the look of the standard tiara appealing, but it is the most commonly-attested headwear for Persians in Greece, and is very easy to make at home.
A tiara pattern for a large head, with moderate-length neck flap (left).
If you choose felt, all you need to do is cut out the "blank," stitch up the front seam and turn the hat inside-out.
If you choose felt, all you need to do is cut out the "blank," stitch up the front seam and turn the hat inside-out.
Persians appear to have sometimes worn tiaras tied around the crown with a cord of some kind. On this practice run, I'm just using a bit of leftover cotton belting.
If you don't like the look of the long earflaps, they may be tied up Cappadocian-style, like a modern hunting cap or ushanka.
For an even tidier look, the flaps can be tucked into themselves.
From the back.
I'm going to have to rescind my words about the fabric needing to be soft enough for the peak to lay to one side. It appears that even the very soft polyester felt I used on this prototype isn't flimsy enough for that purpose. I'd guess that the flopped-over look was probably achieved using a fine woven cloth, either wool or linen.
Again, for the Graeco-Persian wars, I have only heard of felt being used. Greek art typically shows Persian (or possibly Scythian, etc.) soldiers wearing tiaras with rather stiff-looking peaks that are often curled, but not flopped, forward. So it's possible that the stiff peak is okay for our purposes.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Furthermore...
After examining the images at Nirupars - and keeping in mind that all my conclusions are tentative and must change come further, unforeseen evidence (but that's how it always goes) - here's what I now believe:
Medes and Persians at war at the turn of the 5th century BC wore two belts, at the same time. One was to cinch the shirt around the waist. It was probably fabric, and was tied in front with a square knot, leaving the ends hanging. On top of it was worn the weapons belt, to which the bowcase and sword were attached. It was probably heavy-grade leather because of the weight it had to support. It was slightly looser-fitting than the first belt, and fastened in front with a round or flower-shaped button; the inability to precisely adjust the button's fit accounts for its looseness. The button could have been metal, hardened leather or other suitable material - I think that bronze is a likely material. Perhaps a screw back concho or even a drawer knob, if it's not too thick and heavy, could make an acceptable substitute. This belt's ends were much shorter and didn't hang. The two belts were the same width and could have rounded or pointed ends.
Closeups of several of Darius' guards (fourth and fifth pictures here) show them wearing headdresses which might be taken as shorter versions of the tall hats worn by the king himself and other Persians in court dress. The short hats were open on top because the tops of the men's heads, with hair, can be seen in the middle. If these were indeed the same as the tall hats, then those "hats" are more like crowns. While a flat top is visible on the tall hat if viewed from above, it may not mean anything since it's unavoidable when carving such a garment in shallow relief. This gallery also provides plenty of further examples of soldiers in court dress wearing twisted headbands instead of hats.
Consider for your reenactment large, plain hoop earrings, which were apparently very common. Most soldiers also wear loops around their necks; these may be torcs, but if so they appear to be wearing them backward, so I won't venture a conclusion here.
Medes and Persians at war at the turn of the 5th century BC wore two belts, at the same time. One was to cinch the shirt around the waist. It was probably fabric, and was tied in front with a square knot, leaving the ends hanging. On top of it was worn the weapons belt, to which the bowcase and sword were attached. It was probably heavy-grade leather because of the weight it had to support. It was slightly looser-fitting than the first belt, and fastened in front with a round or flower-shaped button; the inability to precisely adjust the button's fit accounts for its looseness. The button could have been metal, hardened leather or other suitable material - I think that bronze is a likely material. Perhaps a screw back concho or even a drawer knob, if it's not too thick and heavy, could make an acceptable substitute. This belt's ends were much shorter and didn't hang. The two belts were the same width and could have rounded or pointed ends.
Closeups of several of Darius' guards (fourth and fifth pictures here) show them wearing headdresses which might be taken as shorter versions of the tall hats worn by the king himself and other Persians in court dress. The short hats were open on top because the tops of the men's heads, with hair, can be seen in the middle. If these were indeed the same as the tall hats, then those "hats" are more like crowns. While a flat top is visible on the tall hat if viewed from above, it may not mean anything since it's unavoidable when carving such a garment in shallow relief. This gallery also provides plenty of further examples of soldiers in court dress wearing twisted headbands instead of hats.
Consider for your reenactment large, plain hoop earrings, which were apparently very common. Most soldiers also wear loops around their necks; these may be torcs, but if so they appear to be wearing them backward, so I won't venture a conclusion here.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Something about a hat
Three types of hat are attested for our period.
With the court robe (noticing a pattern here?) went a cylindrical hat, worn by both the king and his soldiers. It was usually slightly wider at the top than the bottom, with straight (that is, not concave or convex) sides, sometimes canted slightly forward (rhomboidal in profile), and usually fluted on the sides. Judging by the scale, it was perhaps six to eight inches tall (15-20cm).
With the cavalry costume, probably indicating Medes in this period (the reign of Darius), was worn a tall domed hat. This hat was humped slightly forward and its bottom edge slanted down in back. It was tied around the bottom with a hatband that was knotted in back and trailed behind.
In Greek art, imperial soldiers are mostly shown wearing a peaked hat with long earflaps that could be worn loose or tied around the mouth, or, more rarely, over the top like a bomber hat, and a wider flap covering the back of the head. It is variously referred to by historians as a tiara or kidaris, but these may designate other types of headwear, or as a kyrbasia. Variants of this type at Persepolis may include the headdresses worn by the Armenians, Arians, Parthians, Sagartians, Soghdians, and most famously the Scythians. In period Greek art, the style normally depicted is the Scythian style, with short earflaps worn loose and a tall peak.
A last piece of headwear is a twisted band, worn without a hat by two soldiers (possibly Immortals) at Susa.
While the tiara may have originally been made from an animal skin, Herodotus describes the usual material for Persian hats as felt. I'm still looking into making my own hat. The tiara looks like it should be easy to make by modifying a Phrygian (or Smurf) hat pattern and adding ear and neck flaps. The cylindrical hat could perhaps be made from a long strip of felt for the sides and a circle for the top, possibly molding in the pleats and giving the top a sawtooth edge.
The domed hat will have to be blocked. I think it could be done by stretching a large felt hat over a ball or something - otherwise, you may have to go to a professional hatter. It must be at least eight and a half inches (22cm) from side to side and six inches (15cm) deep at the temple (and even deeper in the back. Modern round-crowned hats are just too small - if you cut the brim off a bowler, it'll just look like a skullcap. The domed hat should basically make you look like you have a lollipop on your head.
Next up: Trying to run an empire here.
With the court robe (noticing a pattern here?) went a cylindrical hat, worn by both the king and his soldiers. It was usually slightly wider at the top than the bottom, with straight (that is, not concave or convex) sides, sometimes canted slightly forward (rhomboidal in profile), and usually fluted on the sides. Judging by the scale, it was perhaps six to eight inches tall (15-20cm).
With the cavalry costume, probably indicating Medes in this period (the reign of Darius), was worn a tall domed hat. This hat was humped slightly forward and its bottom edge slanted down in back. It was tied around the bottom with a hatband that was knotted in back and trailed behind.
In Greek art, imperial soldiers are mostly shown wearing a peaked hat with long earflaps that could be worn loose or tied around the mouth, or, more rarely, over the top like a bomber hat, and a wider flap covering the back of the head. It is variously referred to by historians as a tiara or kidaris, but these may designate other types of headwear, or as a kyrbasia. Variants of this type at Persepolis may include the headdresses worn by the Armenians, Arians, Parthians, Sagartians, Soghdians, and most famously the Scythians. In period Greek art, the style normally depicted is the Scythian style, with short earflaps worn loose and a tall peak.
Tiaras appear on Persians or Medes at least as early as the silver statuette from the reign of Artaxerxes I. By the late period, if the Alexander Mosaic and Sarcophagus are accurate, the normal Persian infantry wore them as well. Their style is shorter and appears softer, with the peak normally allowed to fall to one side, the hat bound by a thin cord around the crown, and the earflaps may be longer and are worn wrapped around the lower face.
A last piece of headwear is a twisted band, worn without a hat by two soldiers (possibly Immortals) at Susa.
While the tiara may have originally been made from an animal skin, Herodotus describes the usual material for Persian hats as felt. I'm still looking into making my own hat. The tiara looks like it should be easy to make by modifying a Phrygian (or Smurf) hat pattern and adding ear and neck flaps. The cylindrical hat could perhaps be made from a long strip of felt for the sides and a circle for the top, possibly molding in the pleats and giving the top a sawtooth edge.
The domed hat will have to be blocked. I think it could be done by stretching a large felt hat over a ball or something - otherwise, you may have to go to a professional hatter. It must be at least eight and a half inches (22cm) from side to side and six inches (15cm) deep at the temple (and even deeper in the back. Modern round-crowned hats are just too small - if you cut the brim off a bowler, it'll just look like a skullcap. The domed hat should basically make you look like you have a lollipop on your head.
Next up: Trying to run an empire here.
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