紀元前7世紀における西アジアの馬面

Abstract

The Near Eastern frontlets (horse forehead ornaments) of 9th-8th centuries B. C. have subtriangular shapes in which the upper parts are wide, the lower parts are narrow and are broad in general. But in the 7th century B. C., the shapes changed completely to the slender ones. The contrastive difference is obvious, and the change isn't natural. In the Near Eastern world of the 7th century B. C., armaments were reinforced to cope with Scythian invasions. So it is possible to say that the change happened by a strong agency, namely the shifting from chariot-battles to cavalry-battles. However, it isn't a functional change for defense. Because those of the 7th century B. C. are too narrow to protect horse heads. The Powers, Assyria, Urartu, and so on, instantly introduced the cavalry in the Scythian style. Therefore the auther considers they imitated the Scythian frontlets then. It is possible that Scythians used the wooden or leather frontlets in the 7th century B. C. which don't remain now. In fact, the Near Eastern frontlets of the 7th century B. C. bear a strong resemblance to the Scythian ones of 4th century B. C. in shape. The auther focuses on one type of frontlets which have one overhang on either side. In the Near East, this type was made only in the 7th century B. C., and we can't find the prototype. But some Scythian ones have the same overhangs. It is possible that the Scythians used the originals of this type.