clude that, in accordance with the authority of the sculptures, they preferred and generally adopted the former, which being thick, and well padded, served as an excellent protection to the head, without the inconvenience resulting from the metal in so hot a climate.* Some of them descended to the shouldert, others only a short distance below the level of the eart; and the summit, terminating in an obtuse point, was ornamented with two tassels.§ They were of a green, red, or black colour; and the long helmet, which fitted less closely to the back of the head, was fringed at the lower edge with a broad border, and in some instances consisted of two parts, or an upper and under fold.¶ Another, worn also by the spearmen, and many corps of infantry and charioteers, varied slightly from these, though very similar in many respects, being quilted, and descending to the shoulder with a fringe; but it had no tassels, and fitting close to the top of the head, it widened towards the base, the front, which covered the forehead, being made of a separate piece** attached to the other part. If there is no representation of an Egyptian helmet with a crest, we are less surprised, since even the ancient Greeks did not always adopt it ++; but * This alone would not be a sufficient objection, since metal helmets are still worn even in the far hotter climates of Darfoor and Kordofan. t Wood-cut, No. 46. figs. 1. and 3. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Fig. 4. ++ This helmet was called καταιτυξ. .... Figs. 5, 6, 7. 66 Αμφι δε οἱ κυνεην κεφαλήφιν εθηκε Ταυρείην, αφαλον τε, και αλοφον, ήτε καταιτυξ Κεκληται.” Homer, Il. x, 258. that of the Shairetana, once enemies and afterward allies of the Pharaohs, is particularly interesting since it shows the existence of a custom, as early as two hundred years before the Trojan war, which was afterwards introduced by the Greeks, of adorning the helmet with horns; whence the name keras (horn) was sometimes chosen to signify a crest.* The outer surface of the cuirass, or coat of armour, consisted of about eleven horizontal rows of metal plates, well secured by bronze pins; and at the hollow of the throat a narrower range of plates was introduced, above which were two more, completing the collar or covering of the neck. The breadth of each plate or scale was little more than an inch, twelve of them sufficing to cover the front of the body; and the sleeves, which were sometimes so short as to extend less than half way to the elbow, consisted of two rows of similar plates.† Many, * According to Suidas. Our word crest bears a strong resemblance to the Greek. Vide Hope's Costumes, plate cxxx.; and infrà, on the enemies of the Egyptians, p. 366. + Vide plate 3. indeed most, of the cuirasses were without collars; in some the sleeves were rather longer, reaching nearly to the elbow, and they were worn both by heavy infantry and bowmen. The ordinary cuirass may have been little less than two feet and a half in length; it sometimes covered the thighs nearly to the knee; and in order to prevent its pressing heavily upon the shoulder, they bound their girdle over it, and tightened it at the waist. But the thighs, and that part of the body below the girdle, were usually covered by a kelt*, or other robe, detached from the cuirass; and many of the light and heavy infantry were clad in a quilted vest of the same form as the coat of armour, for which it was intended to be a substitute; and some wore corselets, reaching only from the waist to the upper part of the breast, and supported by straps over the shoulder, which, to judge from the sculptured representations of them, appear to have been faced with metal plates.† Among the arms painted in the tomb of Remeses III., at Thebes, is a piece of defensive armour‡, which, from the hollowed space left for the arm, seems to have been a sort of coat, or covering for the body; and were it not so highly ornamented, might be considered a vest, or μτn, worn beneath the cuirass. It is made of a rich stuff, worked, or painted, with the figures of lions and other animals, devices common upon the shield and other parts of Greek armour, and is edged with a *The wμa, or wornp, of the Greeks. Vide fig. 8. plate 3. |