Sassanian Army

[Gäiten]

Maybe it's already mentioned but the story about the Sassanian peasant infantry chained together to force them to stand their ground at Nihawand in 642...
Is this based on reality, some weird interpretation or just propaganda??

I think it is a weird interpretation and we shall make a certain differentiation.
These spearmen were supposed to fight in shieldwall formation, a very close-order formation. So, IMHO, alone that could have been the reason for the imagination of mass „chained“ infantry.
Chained infantry, even if they are not supposed to move, are far too inflexible for a battlefield.
Especially if the enemy forces can field professional infantry as the Muslim Arabs did.

However, the advantage of chained warriors while fighting cavalry is reasonable. I believe that such wariors had to be elite, very well-trained and used to fight as a team. Not the untrained low-motivated poor peasant levy.

The paighan might be recruited from all-over the state I believe. Especially in dire straits the state was recruiting virtually everybody. If you consider Iranian armies of teh Arab conquest you might find them dominated by large units of infantry and elephants and diminished role of cavlry. This might result from losses in manpower of aristocratic descent and losses of mounts in Heracleian wars, civil wars and in initial phase of Islamic conquest.

An opposite to the normal picture of Iranian armies who were dominated by heavy cavaly and tactics executed suitable for them.
IMHO it further proves that infantry was very important for the Sassanians.

Anyway - nice to meet someone much into topic which has been my hobby for a while

You are welcome.

The whole history of the mounted warfare of Central Asia has me gotten very interested for some years (beginning with Kaveh Farrokh`s book „Sassanian elite Cavalry“).
Especially those powers we know so less about despite their high importance as the Sassanians (or the Kidarites and Hephtalites) and the ongoing development of horsearchery and the knights.