Ancient cavalry spurs

Early spurs had a neck that ended in a point, called a prick, riveted to the heel band. The spur was used by the Celts during the La Tène period (which began in the fifth century BCE), and is also mentioned by Xenophon (circa 430 - 354 BCE.) in his treatise "On Horsemanship".  

When the horse is about to leap over any obstacle, Xenophon recommends applying the spur on takeoff, so that the horse will use his whole body over the obstacle and make a safer jump. If this is not done, Xenophon points out, he may lag with his hind end. Xenophon goes on to admonish those wishing to make a horse "showy" to spare the spur. He emphasized that the rider should not pull on the bit nor spur or whip the horse, as this type of riding causes the opposite effect, simply distracting and frightening the animal and causing him to dislike being ridden. Instead, Xenophon urges, the horse must enjoy himself. He should be trained to be ridden on a loose rein, to hold his head high, arch his neck, and paw with his front legs, taking pleasure in being ridden.

Despite Xenophon's reputation for equestrian knowledge, however, the famed Companion Cavalry of Alexander the Great did not use spurs, bit, or stirrup. 

Bronze spurs have been found in Etruscan tombs dating to the 2nd century BCE, though, and iron or bronze spurs were used by Julius Caesar's auxillia cavalry, as evidenced by archaeological finds in England, and, later, throughout the Roman Empire. 

Some examples of Roman period spurs have been found in bogs and thought to have been offered by Germanic populations as a sacrifice to the gods, along with other war booty, after a successful battle. 

Germanic or Gallo-Roman prick spur, 2nd - 3rd century CE

Bronze Celtic spur from about 300 BCE courtesy of horsefactbook.com

More simple spur from a Roman military workshop in Aquincum, a Roman municipium north of modern Budapest, Hungary, 2nd century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Bjoertvedt

 

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A Roman cavalryman's emergency brake

 A cavesson, also known as a Psálion, was a Roman or Thracian cavalryman's emergency brake. 

"Its lower curved bar was connected to a lead rope attached to the saddle or wrapped around the rider's arm. The cavesson presses on the horse's nose, a very sensitive area, and is used for reprimanding a spirited horse, or simply keeping some control of it, when the rider has to let the reins go for fighting. It was also used for leading a horse on foot. On this example, the long angled shanks have a leverage effect increasing the strength of the rider's action on the nose (like today's hackamores)." - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Developed as early as the 5th century BCE, it is described in the equestrian treaty of Xenophon (ca. 430-355 BCE).  Examples have been found throughout western Europe and in Britain as far as Hadrian's wall. Scholars think this distribution was the result of eastern cavalrymen, particularly Thracians, serving in the Roman army.

Romulus supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("the Swift Squadron") to act as his personal escort, with each of the three tribes supplying a centuria of men.  The royal cavalry may have been drawn exclusively from the ranks of the Patricians (patricii).  But  the patrician monopoly on the cavalry seems to have ended by around 400 BCE probably due to an increasing demand for trained cavalrymen.  According to Polybius, Roman cavalry was originally unarmoured, wearing only a tunic and armed with a light spear and ox-hide shield which were of low quality and quickly deteriorated in action. This had changed by the Second Punic War.  A stone monument dating to this period shows a rider wearing a variant of a Corinthian helmet and greaves.  Although his body armor is obscured by a small round shield, scholars think he was probably also wearing a bronze breastplate.   A coin of 197 BCE shows a Roman cavalryman in Hellenistic composite cuirass and helmet. Polybius says that by 150 BCE, cavalrymen of the "First Class" were expected to to provide themselves with mail. 

The Jugurthine War is the last war in which Roman citizen cavalry is attested as having played a significant part. After that references to the citizen cavalry become rare and the Roman army seems to have become largely dependent on non-citizen cavalry, either recruited in the subject provinces or supplied by allied kings. As part of the army reforms of Gaius Marius around 107 BCE, citizen legionary cavalry was abolished and entirely replaced by native allied cavalry. The equites had long since become exclusively an officer class (a role they retained throughout the Principate), as the empire had become simply too large and complex for aristocrats to serve as ordinary troopers. At the same time, many of the First Class of commoners had developed major business interests and had little time for military service. Although commoners of the lower classes could, of course, have been recruited and trained as cavalrymen in larger numbers, that must have seemed costly and unnecessary when subject countries such as Gaul, Spain, Thrace and Numidia contained large numbers of excellent native cavalry which could be employed at much lower pay than citizens.

Image: Roman or Thracian cavalryman's cavesson (also known as a Psálion), bronze, 1st -2nd century CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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The bit that controlled the mighty Bucephalus

There is evidence of the use of bits to control horses, located in two sites of the Botai culture in ancient Kazakhstan, dated about 3500–3000 BCE.  Nose rings appear on the equids portrayed on the Standard of Ur, circa 2600–2400 BCE. To date, the earliest known artistic evidence of use of some form of bitless bridle comes in illustrations of Synian (Syrian?) horseman, dated approximately 1400 BCE.  Metal bits came into use between 1300 and 1200 BCE, originally made of bronze.   The need for control of horses in warfare drove extensive innovation in bit design, producing a variety of prototypes and styles over the centuries.

This bit is of a distinctive type attested in Northern Greece and used for horses that are ridden rather than driven. Its most noteworthy occurrence is on the mount of Alexander of Macedon in the famous Alexander mosaic from the Casa del Fauno in Pompeii and now in the Archaeological Museum, Naples.

Bronze bit, Greek, 4th-3rd century BCE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Detail of Alexander the Great and Bucephalus from the Battle of Issus Mosaic found in the House of the Faun, Pompeii, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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