Constantine\'s Cataphractii

[Renatus]

Heliodorus' description of the Persian cataphract is a case in point. Armor was far heavier and constraining than today's scholars believe.

There is another telling detail in Heliodorus' description. He says that the only part of the cataphract's body unprotected by his armour was the thigh and that only so far as was necessary for mounting his horse. I assume he means the inner thigh to allow some grip and possibly the back of the knee for flexing. In describing the subsequent battle, he goes on to say that, when the cataphract was unhorsed and unable to rise unaided, the enemy infantry wounded him in the thigh, the very place uncovered and probably all that they could get at easily. The intention, no doubt, was to hamstring him or to sever the femoral artery.