I. Gagoshidze
THE IBERIAN HORSEMAN OF
THE FIRST CENTURY
(Summary)
The paper is part of a monograph, “The
Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) and Rome in the 1st
cent. B.C – 1
st cent. A.D”, compiled in 1996-1998
with the financial aid of the INTAS and dealing
with the Iberian military equipment (weapons,
armour, harness).
The present paper is primarily based on the
rich archaeological collection of weapons, armour
and parts of harness, obtained during the
excavations of the royal palace at Dedoplis Gora,
though all other relevant finds of the same
chronology, coming from other regions of Georgia
at the disposal of the author, have been taken into
consideration as well.
Besides, 25 representations of armoured
horsemen engraved on the bone plaques
discovered at the royal palace of Dedoplis Gora
have been included in the study. One of the
plaques even depicts the scene of combat between
armoured horsemen.
As during the 1st cent. B.C. – 1
st cent. A.D.
Rome led the whole world in the military field, the
paper deals with the local finds in relation to the
Roman material, as well as data provided by
Graeco-Latin narrative sources.
Archaeological finds corroborate the
information of written sources, which names
lances and bows as the principal weapons of the
Iberians. According to the same sources, their
military forces comprised both infantry and
cavalry, the latter being divided into lightly and
heavily armed horsemen.
The Georgians used a compound bow - its ends
covered with bone plates – similar to the Roman
bows. But, a more advanced type of bow has been
found at Dedoplis Gora – not only the ends, but
also the middle part of it was covered with bone
plates. Bows of this type were introduced into
Europe by the Huns only in the period of the
Völkerwanderung.
The close contacts established by the kingdom
of Iberia with nomadic tribes of the Eurasian
steppes account for such early penetration of the
Hunnish bow into Georgia. The Iberian state
power holding tight control over the Caucasian
passes not only managed to exploit nomadic
military forces for the political benefit of Kartli,
but, to some extent, even regulated their peaceful
trade with Western Anterior Asia and eastern
Roman provinces. This key strategic element
guaranteed the petty kingdom of Iberia its fairly
important place within the political scope of the
superpowers of that period – Rome and Parthia.
The so-called Sarmatian-type three-winged
hooked arrowhead represented the only type of
military arowheads in Iberia of the Early Roman
period. More than 800 such arrowheads were
discovered at Dedoplis Gora. As a rule, they were
placed in quivers with bows.
The fact that along with the ordinary iron
socketed spearheads, Sarmatian spearheads with
hooped sockets were found allows the author to
suggest the presence of Sarmatian warriors in the
garrison guarding the royal palace of Dedoplis
Gora.
Spear shafts of the Iberians, like those of the
Romans, ended in iron knobs.
Iberian warriors used to fight with long
piercing swords and unlike the Romans, wore
short daggers attached to the right thigh.
The principal type of iron defensive armour in
Iberia was lorica squamata, though the Roman
influence probably accounts for the discovery of
lorica hamata at Dedoplis Gora. Unlike the
Romans, the Iberians did not use metallic helmets.
A fairly complete picture of harness is
provided by engraved bone plaques unearthed at
Dedoplis Gora. Their local origin becomes clear
judging by both representations of horsemen and
horse harnesses and inscriptions engraved on
some of the plaques, done in the so-called Armazi
script, spread in Georgia. Garments of equestrians,
hunched saddles, girth, reins, halter, ribbons
139
attached to breast, horse-hair and belly, as well as
their buckles are clearly discernible. Actaully,
only the following metallic details have survived:
rings, buckles, bridles. It can be concluded that,
apart from traditional bridles with cheek-pieces,
simple, quite modern bridles were also in use in
Georgia of the 1st cent. as a result of the contacts
with Rome. The analysis of representations on the
bone plaques proves that the Georgians were
familiar with curb-bit and snaffle-bit attached to
horse together with ordinary bridle in order to halt
the horse immediately and achieve swift
maneouvring.
There were no stirrups in the 1st cent., but
riders used to drive horses by spurring them,
especially during the battle.
Military equipment of the Iberians in the 1st
cent. fully met all the requirements and standards
of that period. This, in turn, predetermined, to
some extent the further internal and international
political and military successes achieved by the
kingdom of Iberia in the context of the
international competition of Rome and Parthia.
The most vivid example of those developments
was the territorial expansion of Kartli at the
expense of Albania and Armenia, as well as the
fact that by the beginning of the 2nd cent. the
borders of Iberia reached the Black Sea littoral.
https://a.radikal.ru/a12/2009/88/b67febc5dc69.jpg
http://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/238873/1/Dziebani_Saqartvelos_Arqeologiashi_2004_N13-14.pdf