This can also refer to a piece of riding equipment, see Breastplate (tack). A breastplate (used interchangeably with breastgirth and breastcollar) is a piece of riding equipment used on horses. ...

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. Gothic armour Plate armour is personal armour made from large metal plates, worn on the chest and sometimes the entire body. ...

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). This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Hoshen (Khosen) was the breastplate of Judgment worn by the High Priest in the book of Exodus in the Bible, covered by 12 stones that represented the 12 tribes of Israel. ... Even in death, many Kohanim choose to have this symbol, the special positioning of their fingers and hands during the Priestly Blessing, placed as a crest or symbol on their gravestones to indicate their status. ... This is a list of the Tribes of Israel. ... In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim (Hebrew: האורים והתמים, Standard  Tiberian ; Arabic: الاوريم والتميم al-ŪrÄ«m waʾaṯ-á¹®ummÄ«m) is a phrase from the Hebrew Bible associated with the sacred breastplate, divination in general, and cleromancy in particular. ...

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). Book of Mormon, see Latter Day Saint movement. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

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. Statue of Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (died March 17, 462, 492, or 493), is the patron saint of Ireland. ... Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language which can be more or less fully reconstructed from extant sources. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...

Metaphorical

In the Bible, the word Breastplate is used figuratively to describe protecting oneself from unrighteousness (cf, Isaiah 59:17, Ephesians 6:14, etc). This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ...

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. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is... Helmeted Athena, of the Velletri type. ... Ægis has entered modern English to mean a shield, protection, or sponsorship, originally from the name of the mythological protective shield of Zeus. ... Medusa, by Arnold Böcklin (1878) In Greek mythology, Medusa (Greek: Μέδουσα, guardian, protectress[1]) was a monstrous chthonic female character, essentially an extension of an apotropaic mask, gazing upon whom could turn onlookers to stone. ...