Toupha

The toupha (in Greek τουφα / toúpha or τουφίον / touphíon) is a plumage of the hair or bristles of exotic animals, used to decorate horsemen's helmets and emperors' crowns.

One of the most famous touphas is that which surmounts the crown or helmet of the equestrian statue of Justinian on the column raised by that emperor in the Augustaion in Constantinople. It is known from a drawing of it made in the 15th century. Particularly imposing in size, it fell from the statue in the 9th century and was put back on by some dangerous acrobatics – a rope was stretched between the roof of Hagia Sophia and the summit of the column by means of an arrow along which someone could tightrope-walk to the statue. The emperor Theophilus rewarded the tightrope-walker with 100 gold nomismata for this exploit.

Bibliography

*'Toupha', vol. 3, page 2100, of Alexander Kazhdan (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols., Oxford University Press, 1991 (ISBN 0195046528)