ĔPHIPPĬUM

( ἀστράβη , ἐφίππιον , ἐφίππειον ), a saddle. Although the Greeks occasionally rode without any saddle, yet they commonly used one, and from them the name, together with the thing, was borrowed by the Romans. The ancient saddles appear, indeed, to have been thus far different from ours, that the cover stretched upon the hard frame was probably of stuffed or padded cloth rather than leather, and that the saddle was, as it were, a cushion fitted to the horse’s back. Pendent cloths ( στρώματα , strata ) were always attached to it so as to cover the sides of the animal; but it was not provided with stirrups. The saddle with the pendent cloths is exhibited in the annexed coin. The term “ Ephippium ” was in later times in part supplanted by the word “ sella ,” and the more specific expre ion “ sella equestris .”