Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880), better known as Ned Kelly, was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police.

In the 1930s, during excavations at the ancient city of Dura-Europos on the banks of the Euphrates, a huge number of priceless artifacts were found. One of the most striking was a 3rd century horse armor, which was preserved, if not perfectly, then close to it.

The armor is a capon consisting of about two thousand metal scales. They were woven together with wires and attached to the leather base with special straps. The edges of the cape hung low enough to protect the horse while not interfering with its movement.

Such armor was most likely used by heavily armed horsemen - cataphracts. It is known that Parthians, Sarmatians, Seleucids and Persians had such soldiers at their disposal. Later heavy cavalry also appeared in the Roman army. The armor discovered probably belonged to a Persian cavalryman who took part in the siege of Dura-Europos (the city was under Roman rule at the time) in 256.

The rarity is now housed in a gallery at Yale University