Subject: cavalry archer
Culture: Parthian
Setting: Arsacid empire, Persia 1st-3rdc
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* O'Connell 2022 p58
"Nearing then end of his death ride, the younger Crassus must have noticed that a number of Parthians looked different than their waspish archer compatriots. Mounted on huge stallions, both these riders and their horses were covered with coats of chain mail or iron scales. Rather than a bow, their primary weapon was a lance so long the Greeks called it a kontos, or barge pole. Charing directly at the Romans, these kontos-wielding armored tuskers took advantage of their height and at least part of their momentum to impale multiple victims. The desperate romans had some success by swarming them with swordsmen. But the combination of horse archers plus these armored rams was simply too much to survive.
"The appearance of these cataphracts (from the Greek 'covered over') marked the emergence of a fundamentally new and durable weapon system. Like most things having to do with horses, their origins were on the steppe, where certain groups began experimenting with coats of mail for protection. Sarmatians first used thinly sliced horse hooves, but metal was better. Because horses were big targets, it also made sense to extend the coverage to them. The result, however, was one weighed-down pony. The Parthians solved the problem by taking over the Nesaean stud, the huge imperial herds of Persia's rulers. Kept in Media, horses here were carefully bred to combine speed with size and strength -- enormous chests, barrels, and haunches but fine lower quarters and feet ... Clydesdales in track shoes.
"The Parthians made good use of them, organizing their nobles into a force built around the great steeds. Their size, speed, and resulting momentum naturally suggested a role as an instrument of collision and the lance a its essential agent. It proved an enduring combination. One key problem remained: keeping horse and rider attached at the moment of impact. Like nomads everywhere, Parthian cataphracts rode virtually bareback. To be fully effective this would have to change."
* Matyszak 2004 p133-134
"Given the Parthian character, it comes as no surprise that Parthian soldiers were unpaid, and that logistics were regarded as a black art. The bulk of the army were feudal levies, the hamspah, often supplemented by mercenaries. Foot soldiers were not an important component of the army, and most of those were archers. So too were most of the cavalry. These light horsemen were highly mobile -- as they had to be, since on the other side of the empire they spent their time skirmishing with the nomadic ancestors of Attila the Hun.
"But the Parthian army had cut its teeth on the Seleucids, and they were unimpressed by the heavy infantrymen of the legions. The Parthian heavy cavalry were cataphracts, from cataphracti, a Greek word meaning 'covered over'; the riders and their horses were heavily armoured. Their lances were unusually long and thick, and the combined weight of the rider and horse could skewer this lance through two opponents at once. Like any cavalry, these horsemen were next to useless against disciplined infantry in close formation, but such infantry were easy targets for the bowmen in the rest of the army. Furthermore, these archers used the compound bow -- a mix of iron, horn adn wood which was lighter yet more powerful than the Roman equivalents."
* Richardson 2015 p6
"The forces of the Parthians used the characteristic Central Asian tactics: large forces of light horse archers supported by heavy cavalry wearing scale armour and riding barded horses, equipped with bows but also charging with the lance. Superbly preserved examples of their equipment have been excavated from Dura Europos on the Roman frontier, including horse armours and shields, while one of the few early composite bows was found nearby."
Armor
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Costume
* Köhler 1928 p83-84
"The Parthians were a savage race of horsemen. Speaking generally, their clothing was the same as that worn by other Scythian tribes, especially by the monarchical Scythians who were settled round the shore of the Black Sea. Like these last mentioned, the Parthians usually wore several coats one over another. When putting on these coats they pulled the upper one, which was cut wide and was long enough to reach to the knees, up under their girdle, so that the bottom edge of the coat underneath (which was much shorter and closer-fitting) could be seen. They also wore long, fairly wide trousers. Their headdress was sometimes pointed and sometimes round, or shaped like the Phrygian cap. The shoes were of leather, frequently dyed a reddish purple.
"The trousers were made in the same manner as those of the other Scythian tribes, but in some cases the Persian style was followed. The Parthian coat, on the other hand, which was made of coloured, soft materials, often of fine quality, resembled the Median garment. It consisted of two pieces, front and back, shaped alike. These were sewn together on the shoulders and at the sides as far as the sleeve-hole. The sleeves were conspicuously long. The hole for the head was very wide; round it was a broad hem for the tie-string, so that the garment could be drawn tight up to the neck or allowed to lie lower on the shoulders. In this way the top of the under-garment, which was similar, but, as said above, shorter and closer-fitting, could be seen to a greater or lesser extent, as the wearer pleased. The upper coat either had a slit at the breast or was divided in front from the foot up to the fork; it might even be left completely open in the front.
"This was the ordinary Parthian dress. That of the upper classes was made of splendid material, mostly coloured and richly adorned. Over it was also occasionally worn an oblong cape, fastened at the breast with an agraffe, or clasp."
