Note 1367 — STIRRUPS.

Both passages are quoted by Du Cange from the Gloss. Isidori. The latter word signified also the saddle-bow; for Suidas says, ‘Ἀστράβη, τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐφιππίων ξύλον ὃ κρατοῦσιν οἱ καθεζόμενοι’. Lignum quod est in ephippiis, quod sessores tenent. Allusion is made to this saddle-bow by the emperor Frederic II. De Arte Venandi, ii. 71, p. 152, where he describes how a falconer should mount his horse: “Ponat pedem unum in staffa sellæ, accipiens arcum sellæ anteriorem cum manu sua sinistra, supra quam jam non est falco, posteriorem autem cum dextra, super quam est falco.” Nicetas, however, in Manuel. Comnen. lib. ii. p. 63, gives that name to the whole saddle; for we are told that the Scythians, when about to cross a river, placed their arms on the saddle (ἀστράβην), and laying hold of the tails of their horses, swam after them.