ΠΟΡΦΥΡΑ - Porphyra

A Prôtospatharios, Magistros, and Strategos Autokrator of 11 th cent.
the equipment of Georgios Maniakes and his army according to the Skylitzes Matritensis miniatures
and other artistic sources of the middle Byzantine period.
introduction by the Avars in 6 th century 185 to the last days of the
Empire they were called σκαλαι 186 . The specimen here used
(Plate 1A and fig.9 n. 16) has been copied from Bulgaro-
Byzantine examples found in Madara 187 , for its similarity with
those of fig. 3. Skalai were protruding from the anterior part of
the saddle, passed through a strap by means of their upper
hole 188 .
The use of spurs is well attested in literature as well as in
military treatises 189 , and in the miniatures of the Skilitzés. 190
Since the Caesarian age there is uninterrupted archaeological
evidence for the use of spurs by Roman cavalrymen 191 , and
East-Roman 10 th – 11 th century specimens have been found in
Pacului Lui Soare 192 .
Horseshoes were used by East-Roman cavalry (fig.9 n.
17) specimens of which were found in Pacului Lui Soare 193 .
Similar pieces come from Dinogetia and Cocon, and also other,
fragmentary and sometimes still with nails attached, were found
nearby in Seuthopolis and Pliska 194 .
Hoffmeyer has tried a graphical reconstruction of
different kinds of σελλοχαλινα from the Skilitzès 195 . Maniakes
saddle, covered in the miniature by a green blocked cloth 196 , has
been copied in these reconstructions (plate 1A and fig. 9). We
185 S. Haldon, Military Technology, p. 22 note 57 ; Haldon, Warfare, p. 130 ; Nicolle, Medieval Warfare, 38.
186 Maurikios, Strategikon, I, 2, 41 ; Leo, Taktika, V, 10 ; Du Cange, Glossarium, col. 1378.
187 Feher, Les monuments, p. 76. They are probably relative to the Bulgarian war of Basil II and they find exactly
correspondence in some type showed in manuscripts from 10 th centuries onwards. See for instance the 11 th cent. ivory
ikon of Saint George in Kiew, in Heath, Byzantine Armies, p. 9 ; the Cod.Ath.Ephigmenu 14 fol. 417r, in Treasures, II,
fig. 405 p. 251; the Skilitzès folio 113v, in Von Falkenhausen, I Bizantini. I have worked with a scanner on the image
of the miniature. The type is flat, very arched.
188 Cfr. the reconstruction of saddlery in Ambros, The stirrups, fig. 2 ; Laszlo, Etudes, fig. 85.
189 Pternistéria: see Digenis Akritas, IV, 227 ; Leo, Taktika, VI,4 ; Pseudo-Konstantinos-Nikephoros Ouranos, Taktika,
p.14.
190 Es. Skilitzès Matritensis folios 43r, 178r, 224v, in Von Falkenhausen-Cavalli, cit., figg. 24, 36, 428.
191 For classical roman spurs see Junkelmann, Die Reiters Rom, III, Mainz 1992, pp. 98-100 figg. 2, 4, 53.
192 It is a singular straight iron arms specimen 14 cm. long, with rectangular section and wide arc. At a meeting point
starts horizontally a bar 2,2 cm. long, which ends in the middle of a triangular pyramidal prominence 1 cm. long. One
of the arms, integrally preserved, is lightly curved towards the top and extends vertically towards the ends, where two
circular apertures to fasten the thongs were provided. Typologic on the basis of a more adequate and extended analog
of the spur should be dated between the last 10 th cent. and the beginning of 11 th cent. See Diaconu-Vilceanu, cit., pp.
144-145, fig. 107/4 and pl.22/3. Other specimen of the same period found in East-Roman context (Karatas) is published
by Jancovic M., Implements and weapons from 9 th - 11 th centuries, in Balcanoslavica 10, 1983, pp. 55-69, p. pl. IV n. 9.
193 Idem, p. 147, pl. 20 n. 3,6 p. 213. There were discovered two similar iron specimens, almost well preserved, whose
form and dimension for the first time induce us to consider them as real horseshoes, which normally are wider with
apertures to put them on. The specimens present a oval form which lightly widens towards the inside ends. Their
thickness is 3 mm.; their length respectively 9,3 and 8,9 mm.; their width, 1,5 and 1,2 mm. at the linking point of arms
which are thinner at ends. One of the two has come down to us with crumpled arms on the vertical line. Both preserve
on the back two nails to fasten it at the hoof heel. We should at this point remember that the hooves of Maniakes
horses, at the battle of Troina, were equipped with metal plates and shoes, s. Felix, Byzanz, p. 210 und bibliography in
note 68 ;
194 For Dinogetia cfr. Barnea, Dinogetia, fig. 40/20 ; for Seuthopolis s. Cangova J., La cité médiévale au dessus des
ruines de la ville Thrace de Seuthopolis, Sofia 1972, p. 90 fig. 72; for Pliska cfr. Mihailov S., Pliska, 1945-1947, p. 181
fig. 12/2.
195 Hoffmeyer, Byzantine Equipment, cit. fig. 14.
196 The reference cloth, with geometric and foliate motifs, is published in Malthusius, Byzantine silk., p. 217, pl.29a.
32