Roman Horse Archer later 2nd Century AD

 

This figure is the Horse Archer - later 2nd Century AD that first appeared in the Miniature Figurines 72/73 catalogue as PBC 128. I have added Roman to the title as Minifigs took it as read we already knew this. 

Both PB ranges were based on Phil Barker's books Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars and The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome. This figure is taken from illustration 28 in the first edition of AEIR.

The code numbers for the AEIR range correspond to the illustrations in the book plus '100', i.e. illustration 1 is figure 101. 

Cavalry models carried the code number on a tag - long since removed - which can make identification a little harder in some cases. 

This figure is clearly drawn from that evergreen source of the Roman army Trajan's Column and is often described as an 'Eastern' or 'Syrian' horsemen. Unusually for a Minifigs horse archer he is clutching his bow to his chest rather than shooting off to the side at one of his comrades. Perhaps his mates had a word. Rather a neat little model and relatively common. Lacking spears, swords and what-not it has the advantage of being almost impossible to break. 

The horse is the PBH 65-217 Roman Cavalry Horse - 1st and 2nd Centuries AD. It's the correct contemporary offering and suffers from the double saddle cloth effect - both rider and horse having their own saddle cloth.