Byzantine Zaba : A Case Study of the Mail Coat from the Iviron Monastery (Athos / GR)

MANIOTIS, Errikos. Byzantine Zaba : A Case Study of the Mail Coat from the Iviron Monastery (Athos / GR). Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt. Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, 2022, vol. 52, No 4, p. 563-573. ISSN 0342-734X.

Basic information

• Original name: Byzantine Zaba : A Case Study of the Mail Coat from the Iviron Monastery (Athos / GR)
• Authors: MANIOTIS, Errikos (300 Greece, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt, Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, 2022, 0342-734X.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60102 Archaeology
• Country of publisher: Germany
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: Full text URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 0.200
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/22:00127841
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• UT WoS: 000912173800006
• Keywords in English: Military History; Medieval Archaeology; Byzantine History; Byzantine Iconography; Roman military archaeology; Archaeology of Weapons; A Mail armour; Arms and Armour; Chain mails
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: Reviewed

Abstract

The present paper aims to present the chain-mail cuirass that is kept at Iveron Monastery, following the monastery’s kind permission to document and study the object in question. The study of the chain-mail cuirass focuses on its typological characteristics and the materials used in its construction, information that will facilitate the identification and dating of the object. In addition, the study also makes use of historical references to objects of this kind and their representations in art as comparative means, with an emphasis mainly on the archaeological evidence. According to tradition, this particular chain-mail cuirass is associated with the Byzantine general John Tornikios, who, according to P. Christou, founded Iveron Monastery in the late 10th century. The general John Tornikios was a scion of the great Tornikios family of Iberia, whose members, from the 10th century onwards, occupied high offices. Though already a monk, John Tornikios served in Basil II’s successful military campaign against the rebel Bardas Skleros and the emperor gave him permission to keep some of the booty and to found the Monastery of Iveron in about the year 980. According to archaeological evidence, the use of chain-mail cuirasses can be traced as far back as the 3rd century B.C. and appears to be connected with the Celts. This type of armour was also used by the Roman army, where it was known as lorica hamata, while it also formed the main body armour of the cataphracts of Sassanid Persia. In Byzantine historical literature, and more specifically in military treatises like the Sylloge Tacticorum and the Tactica of Leo VI the Wise, there are numerous references to ‘lorikia alysidota’, which many researchers, such as J. Haldon and T. Kolias, have linked with the chain-mail cuirass. Finally, according to J. Haldon, the chain-mail cuirass was used predominantly in the Byzantine army because of the peculiarity of its construction.