Maille During the Time of Darius I

[Artabanos]

@MeinPanzer

Which artefacts are you drawing this collar from, and which Parthian sources were you referring to before? You don't have to post pictures, I'm just curious to hear which ones you are referring to.

Its the bust of a Parthian with brown to blond/red beard/hair color. He wears a Karbysia.

Why would some kind of neck protection need to be worn?

Because they are often short with no neck protection and the latter was very important in Iranic warfare.

There is no doubt that Xenophon was aware of Persian sources and drew on them, but his work is certainly not "more or less a copy" of Persian work. Have you read critical literature on "On Horsemanship" or "Cyropaedia? There is good reason to doubt the accuracy of some things that Xenophon writes.

Sure but the core facts are mostly correct.

As for Herodotus; I have here a German translation which differs somewhat from Paullus Scipio's one. It says that he first fought against the Greeks but as he was overwhelmed they tried to kill him but were unable until someone hit his eye. So you are right it could be just a coincident.
However from the fighting we know that the Greeks were fighting the Persian cavalry with arrows and IIRC also other projectiles. Only when Masistios' flank was exposed the arrow hit his horse. This reminds me of the Parthian cavalry which used heavy armoured horse archers against enemies with bows and thus being well protected against the arrows of the enemies. This troops wore metal face masks.
This alone is no proof but I believe that Parthian and Achaemenid heavy cavalry were very similar to each other.

However thanks for that translation now I will re-think whether I will use a face mask for my Canakkale sarcophagus style horseman or not.