Parthian horse archers

[MeinPanzer]

Salve,
My question is why using term: Parthian archers when clearly the army that destroyed Roman legions at Carhae was composed of the Saka horsemen, the branch of the Saka tribal groups that settled from northern India (Indo-Saka) to Parthian empire, and not too long before the war with the Romans invaded the Parthian domain, killed their kings and made others (eg Orodes grandfather Sanatruces was made king by the Saka, in this coin he even wears a very Saka headdress with their mythic imagery of deer, tamgas etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coin_ ... arthia.jpg ) and were 'responsible' for the 'nomadic' twist in the Parthian culture. Their leader was their clan wariorchief Surena. Proper Parthian Army under the king Orodes was elsewhere in Armenia,

Firstly, what historical basis is there for your supposition that Saka tribes were in control of the Parthian empire "not too long before the war with the Romans"? The Parthians did have trouble fighting the Saka in the second century BC, but by the reign of Mithridates II the Saka were defeated and the lands lost to them were recovered. Secondly, if you are referring to the Indo-Parthian kingdom, then they pushed the Saka out too to the southwest, into northern India. Thirdly, that coin shows Sanatruces wearing entirely Iranian headgear. Nothing about it shows Saka influence; what Saka "mythic imagery" do you see there exactly? Finally, the "nomadic twist" in Parthian culture derives in the main from the nomadic origins of the Parni, which go way back to the third or even fourth centuries BC, and not from Saka influence in the last two centuries BC.

Clearly you may have to look into evidence from the wide swath of land, from Chinese Turkmenistan to Southern Russian, eastern Turkey and Iran. eg article on Scythian (saka) bows from China be Bede Dwyer - http://www.atarn.org/chinese/scythian_bows.htm or S. Shelby drawings of the Saka bows http://www.atarn.org/chinese/Yanghai/yanghai.htm
Simonenko published a book on the Sarmatians, there is a chapter on the bows and arrows, and there are other articles in Russian language publications on the archery... the same when regarding Ukok horsemen of the Altai by Polsmak.

Even if these troops were Saka, and not Parthian (and I see no reason to suppose so), they would almost certainly have been influenced by the peoples around them during the time between their movement out of the steppe and their migration through Central Asia, Iran, and the Near East. Looking at weaponry from Xinjiang and the Altai dating to the 5th-3rd c. BC, or Sarmatian weaponry is hardly helpful in reconstructing the arms of a soldier in the 1st c. BC. The material from Old Nisa and other sources, like the Yrzi bow, are far more relevant.

Please note that on that coin you can see the bow as well, very similar to the one drawn by mr Shelby
more coins and Saka archers from their cousins, Indo-Saka
here we can see a separate quiver perhaps - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... gTunic.jpg

Parthian bows were very similar to Saka bows because the Parni and Saka shared a common origin on the steppes to the northeast of Iran.

some coins tend to support the idea that mounted and armored spearmen or kontophoroi did not carry bows http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/indoscy ... 2216_2.jpg
http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/indoscy ... _s74-2.jpg
http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/indoscy ... _s89-2.jpg

These coins do not show the gorytus because it was worn on the left side of the saddle, so that only a bit of it would be visible behind the rider, and because in these two depictions the butt of the spear and the rider's arm obstruct that portion of the gorytus. If you look at other coinage of Azes I and Spalirises, you can see the gorytus quite clearly; other earlier figural sources of Saka cataphracts and the fact that arrows were found with the Chirik Rabat cataphract panoply show that it was the norm for Central Asian cataphracts to carry bows.