Robes of conquered kings

[Mastadawg]

i have heard it said that if a king was defeated in battle then the conquering king would attach the defeated kings robe to the end of the train of his robe and the length of the robes train would reflect the number of kings/kingdoms that king had conquered, but i have not been able to find any support for this. do you have any knowledge of this and if so, where i may find the info to support this thought? thank you.

[amyntoros]

No one else has come forward to say that this applied in some other period of time, so I would hazard a guess that this is complete fiction. It certainly wasn't the case in the period of Alexander and the Successors. In fact, when the word "robe" is mentioned in ancient sources it doesn't even mean the same as we think of it today - it wasn't the long trailing robe of modern English monarchs, but is probably a generic reference to "clothing". The Median "Robe of Honor" that was adopted by Persian kings and then by Alexander was a purple tunic with a white stripe in the middle. Best regards,
Amyntoros

[marcus]

I have to say that I've never heard of that one. There are similar things, that tend to come from myth-cycles - kings who make their robes out of the beards of conquered enemies, for example; although I have to say that, more often than not, they appear in Celtic or other Northern European myths.Still, I have a nagging feeling in the back of my skull that there are examples of this sort of thing in Greek myth ... but, again, it is myth rather than history.ATBMarcus

[amyntoros]

I checked with an online friend who is as enamored of the ancient sources for Greek myths as we are of Alexander sources. He's never heard of this, so I doubt it's Greek! My thoughts were that perhaps it's a Mediaeval legend, but you'd know if it was, that historical period being your forte. Maybe some historical-fantasy book is responsible? Then again, it could be just another internet myth.Best regards, Amyntoros

[marcus]

I didn't think it was Greek (although, as I say, I do have a nagging doubt ...).There's certainly at least one Celtic source of something along those lines - maybe in the Mabinogion, or in one of the Fianna myths, or Cuchulain.Oh well, I don't have the books in London to check, so we'll have to proceed on the basis that, if anything, it ain't Greek!ATBMarcus

[Ragamuffinsong]

I remember hearing something similar but I believe it was a Persian tradition but I hadn’t heard it was the cut off portions of other kings robes but that it was rather an embroidered extention added onto the kings robe to record his conquests. It was only worn in court as it would be impractical in any other and it was woven with gems and costly threads meant to impress or intimidate visiting dignitaries to display the kings wealth and power. The robe was also earned by each generation that inherited the throne it wasn’t something passed from father to son. Each king had to earn his own. Although a King could give a robe to a man he wished to honor and/or give authority too. That said this is just a memory of something I heard second hand I don’t have anything for you to reference other than reading the example in Hebrew record of Mordechai receiving a robe from the Persian King and riding the kings horse through the streets of Susa after he thwarted an attempt by some of his contemporaries to kill the King.