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Dovecote Church

UNKNOWN DONOR

There is an inscription with this figure but it is almost completely obliterated. The only remnants Jerphanion was able to make out were the letters O (omega), then CH.....OC, M...., TH..... Not much to go on. As this figure is of a similar format to Melias (the other horseman), Jerphanion posits that it, too, is of a donor. The figure wears scale armour (perhaps leather) on torso, arms and as kremasmata. He carries a bamboo lance. There is mail visible beneath the klibanion at neck level.

Detail showing the mail rings at neck level, presumably a lorikion worn under the klibanion.

See an article on the possible identities of the two Dovecote Church horsemen

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The two mounted donors are referenced on p.45, Byzantine Cavalryman c.900-1204 by Timothy Dawson (Author), Giuseppe Rava (Illustrator)
The fresco of the Forty Martyrs of Sevaste in the Dovecote Church at Çavusin in Kappadokhia shows both infantry and cavalry. The horsemen are armed with kontaria and protected by a mixture of lamellar and scale armour.

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Referenced as figure 79B in Arms and armour of the crusading era, 1050-1350 by Nicolle, David. 1988 edition
79A-79C Wall-painting in subterranean church, Cappadocia, 963-69 A.D. (in situ “Dovecote Church”, Çavusin, Nevșehir province, Turkey) 79A—One of the “Forty Martyrs”, 79B-79C—donors. A number of figures among the Forty Martyrs wear armour. This particular one seems to be equipped in virtually the same way as two mounted donor figures. He and they might reflect the equipment used by the akritoi warrior élite of Byzantium’s eastern frontier. There is little reason to suppose that such arms and armour changed greatly over the following one hundred years. All three wear scale or lamellar cuirasses, the elements of which are painted in a brown colour which suggests a cuir-bouilli or hardened leather construction. Figure 79A seems to have mail chausses on his legs while his scale or lamellar cuirass appears to be divided across the abdomen, perhaps revealing a grey coloured mail hauberk beneath. Figure 79B, and less certainly fig. 79C, seem to have short sleeved mail hauberks beneath their scale or lamellar. The idea of dividing a relatively stiff cuirass across the abdomen could have made it easier to wear in the saddle, particularly at a time when a bent knee riding position was still the norm. Such armour is closer to that described in early medieval-Arabic sources than that in contemporary Byzantine writing. This could be explained by the fact that most Byzantine authors were referring to the equipment of élite troops in or around the capital, whereas the arms and armour of frontier regions like Cappadocia could have had more in common with that of their immediate foes. In this ease such foes would have been the Arab or Kurdish amirs of Syria and eastern Anatolia, not to mention the Armenians and western Iranians. It may also be significant that both mounted donor figures (79B and 79C) carry spears with bamboo or cane shafts, the weapons par excellence of the traditional Arab warrior. The sword held by fig. 79A is straight bladed but clearly single edged and has no pommel. This also brings to mind weapons from the steppes (figs. 15J-15M, 31A and 33) which was, of course, an area having considerable influence on both the Muslim and Byzantine worlds.