breastplate
This can also refer to a piece of riding equipment, see Breastplate (tack).
Breastplates are devices worn over the torso either as protective armor or as an item of religious significance. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing.
Armor
In medieval weaponry, the breastplate is the front portion of plate armour covering the torso. It has been an armour mainstay since ancient times and was one of the last pieces of functional armour to be used on the battlefield because it protected the vital organs without limiting mobility.
Religious
In Judaism, the Breastplate (or "Hoshen") is a garment worn by the High Priest, woven out of multiple fabrics and set with twelve precious stones representing each of the tribes of Israel. Traditionally, it had a fold containing the Urim and Thummim. The Breastplate is described in some detail in Exodus 28:13-30 and Exodus 39:8-21. It is placed over the Mantle (Me'il).
The breastplate is also of significance in Mormonism, as one was apparently maintained anciently, along with other sacred artifacts, by Book of Mormon prophets (cf Doctrine and Covenants 17:1, and Joseph Smith History 1:35, 42, 52).
Christian tradition, particularly Catholic, uses a prayer of hymn titled the "Breastplate of St. Patrick," (ostensibly written by St. Patrick), a prayer for protection to God. It exists in an Old Irish text from the 8th century.
Metaphorical
In the Bible, the word Breastplate is used figuratively to describe protecting oneself from unrighteousness (cf, Isaiah 59:17, Ephesians 5:14, etc).
Mythological
Both Zeus and Athena are sometimes depicted as wearing a goatskin shield or breastplate called an Aegis. At the center of Athena's shield was the head of Medusa.
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