Cavalry at Jotapata

[L C Cinna]

Hi there.

I'm rereading Flavius Josephus book at the moment and while I read the chapter about the Roman attack on the breach at Jotapata I kind of asked myself, why does Vespasian send his dismounted cavalry first?

What might be the reason for that?

Josephus said they were armoured from head to toe but well, not more than a legionary i guess, at least from what I've read about Roman cav. of the 1st century so far.
I'd rather say they are not as heavily armoured as the legionaries are, so they might be able to fight better individually in the breach considering all the stuff lying around there, but that would be a contradiction to what Josephus says.

If Vespasian wanted lighter troops maybe with spears or longer swords he would have used auxiliaries imho.

So if you have light troops, allied contingents with all kind of armament and the heavy legionaries, why pick your cav for a job like that?

thank you.

[Carlton Bach]

Given we know relatively little about the situation, it is hard to say with any certainty why Vespasian may have done this (or not - Josephus might misremember). However, I would suggest starting with the assumption that our source - who was there - knows what he is talking about, and test that. Could it be that the cavalry at Jotapata were the best armoured unit available? I don't know with any certainty, but what are the exact reasons for assuming they weren't? We are talking about (at least predominantly) units from the Roman east, and AFAIK limb armour was prevalent in the region well before the first clibanarii units are attested. That Roman cavalry is usually shown with only torso armour need not be a problem, given the sparse evidence - if it weren't for the survival of the Adamklissi metopes, how many people would believe that legionaries used manicae?

Junkelmann takes this quote as evidence of the elite character of the cavalry. This may well have played a role. Again, I can't say how good the legions at Jotapata were thought to be by their commanders, and taking evidence from farther afield is a perilous undertaking (there are plenty of attestations for the low state of discipline in the Eastern legions, but aside from the problem of how seriously to take them, these AFAIR refer to different times. Unit morale can change in months, never mind decades.)

It is possible that auxiliaries in general were better trained for individual combat. Tacitus refers to such training in Agricola, though in isolation, not in contrast to that of legionaries. I do not think that they would be better suited because of lighter armour, though. If you are going to fight hand-to-hand at close quarters, armour has been favoured through history. During the Later Middle ages and Renaissance, it was the heaviest armoured troops that led the charge or held the breech. I don't see why that should be different in the 1st century AD.

[L C Cinna]

Josephus doesn't say which kind of unit Vespasian used, but Warry writes that Vespasian used heavy Sarmatian cavalry in the civil war in 69. Maybe they are the same guys he used to attack at Jotapata? that would explain the very heavy armament, imho.

[Johnny Shumate]

I can't see Sarmatians, a Steppe people, fighting on foot in a seige. They were masters of distance warfare: Bows, arrows and the two handed lance.
Johnny

[L C Cinna]

well, the Sarmatians served as heavily armoured cav. in Vespasian's army and josephus says that Vespasian used his heavy cav. because they were armoured from head to toe. Roman cav. of the time periode is not that heavy, at least from what I've read so far.

[Carlton Bach]

well, the Sarmatians served as heavily armoured cav. in Vespasian's army and josephus says that Vespasian used his heavy cav. because they were armoured from head to toe. Roman cav. of the time periode is not that heavy, at least from what I've read so far.

I don't know. Put manicae and articulated leg defenses (or even greaves) on a 1st century Roman cavalryman and you have 'from head to toe'. I have yet to see evidence either way for cavalry, but legionaries did use manicae. Why shouldn't cavalrymen? Especially in that part of the world.