03-27-2013, 08:01 PM
Hi Alanus, Michael Rostovtzeff confirms what you say about long range archery duels in his book "Iranians and Greeks in South Russia" he talks about the differences between Scythians and Sarmatians see below
The Scythians were primarily bold archers : their principal weapons were bow and arrows. It was only after they had broken the enemy's resistance by
a succession of attacks at long range, by a continuous bombardment
of arrows, sometimes poisoned, that they advanced in wedge formation
for a final assault, a hand-to-hand struggle in which they used
their short daggers.
The tactics of the Sarmatians, especially the Alans, were very different. Their principal weapon was a long, heavy lance, such as
was carried by mediaeval knights. Covered, horse and man, with
corslets of scale- or ring-armour, or sometimes of cast iron, they
charged in masses and broke resistance by the weight of this
heavy cavalry attack : the formation may be compared to a mounted
phalanx. The lance attack was followed by hand-to-hand fighting in
which they used long swords with sharp points. The part played by
bow and arrows was quite secondary. Conical helmets of iron, and
stirrups, both unknown to the Scythians, completed the Sarmatian
outfit.
Don't know about the stirrups though.
The Scythians were primarily bold archers : their principal weapons were bow and arrows. It was only after they had broken the enemy's resistance by
a succession of attacks at long range, by a continuous bombardment
of arrows, sometimes poisoned, that they advanced in wedge formation
for a final assault, a hand-to-hand struggle in which they used
their short daggers.
The tactics of the Sarmatians, especially the Alans, were very different. Their principal weapon was a long, heavy lance, such as
was carried by mediaeval knights. Covered, horse and man, with
corslets of scale- or ring-armour, or sometimes of cast iron, they
charged in masses and broke resistance by the weight of this
heavy cavalry attack : the formation may be compared to a mounted
phalanx. The lance attack was followed by hand-to-hand fighting in
which they used long swords with sharp points. The part played by
bow and arrows was quite secondary. Conical helmets of iron, and
stirrups, both unknown to the Scythians, completed the Sarmatian
outfit.
Don't know about the stirrups though.
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
