Sassanian Bazpan

[Salvianus]

Ah, nice site: and tonight on the Late, Late Roman show...

Nobiscum...

[Robert Vermaat]

I'm late to the thread, I fear (well I am a Late Roman)

But not as late as us mate :wink:

Jools, there's Late and there's too late ... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[Gäiten]

IMHO such a gauntlet can hardly be used by a mounted archer. It is better suited for heavy or superheavy lancer cavalry, so that may mean that the Sassanians still fielded that cavalry type in the late 6th/7th century.

Given the theory that the standard Sassanian cavalryman was of a composite type (capable of fighting with both bow and lance) that is interesting.

[Ironhand]

They ESPECIALLY used heavy cavalry in that time period. Tactics were changing from a more light cavalry hit and run style to utilizing heavy cavalry whenever possible. I own Sassanian Elite Cavalry which is one of the better Osprey books I've seen, though that isn't my area and could be wrong about a lot for all I know.

[Gäiten]

As far as I know (and so it is written in the Osprey book) the superheavy lancer cavalry was used in the 4th till late 5th century AD (as those among the forces fighting Julian`s invasion of Eranshar in 363 AD.
After their disastrous defeats against the Hephtalites in the late 5th century the Sassanians stopped using that kind of unit and were forced to reform their army.

The 6th/7th century Savaran were of a composite type, not as heavily armored as before, but more mobile and capable of fighting with missile and melee weapons.

That Bazpan glove is better suitable for those superheavy lancers, IMHO, so I wonder which unit it might have belonged to.

[daryush]

Apologies for resurrecting such an old thread!

I was wondering if anyone still had the photo of the gauntlet? I was able to find the drawing from the link to the other forum, but not the photo.

Thanks.