Cavalry Games

[Surena]

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this. If not then please do move it.

Do we know what, if any, games/drills the Roman cavalry used to do? We know that the Mamluks, Ottomans, British, Indian etc all used various games in their training. I was wondering whether the Romans did the same.

[M. Caecilius]

Most famously, there are the Hippika Gymnasia described by Arrian in his Ars Tactica: you'll find many details on the net, including here on this forum.

Beyond that, there are references in ancient works and some ancient works which deal with this. Xenophon wrote about horsemanship, Vegetius touches on cavalry training, and Maurice, in the late Roman/Byzantine Strategicon does likewise, albeit for a different type of army in the latter case.

Pliny the Elder's work on throwing a javelin from horseback has been lost, unfortunately: it'd be really interesting what the man who avoided walking on foot because he could read while being carried in a litter had to say about sports. Naturally, he did have a military career, assuming the work dealt with the military and not with hunting.

There's a lengthy inscription at Lambaesis in North Africa (CIL VIII.18042), recording speeches of Hadrian to compliment (and in one minor aspect, criticise) Legio III Augusta and the attached auxiliaries for its display of horsemanship. A very readable modern source is Junckelmann, die Reiter Roms II: Der militärische Einsatz (Philip von Zabern, 1991), who quotes this text extensively. Another inscription (CIL III.3676) boasts of a man who swam the Danube with his horse, though that might have been a Batavian specialty.

Junckelman mentions exercises on a wooden horse, though he doesn't give any details as to his source; the famous English fort at the Lunt has an enclosure used to train horses and make them used to the sounds of battle. It is essentially a round wooden arena which causes echoes that simulate a battle if you clash only a few swords.

I hope that helps you get started.






There are also some elements in the (late/Byzantine) Strategikon of Maurice, and

[Surena]

Aye, that'll keep me going for while, thanks!

[Renatus]

You could also try Ann Hyland, Training the Roman Cavalry: From Arrian's Ars Tactica, Stroud, 1993.

[Mark Hygate]

You could also try Ann Hyland, Training the Roman Cavalry: From Arrian's Ars Tactica, Stroud, 1993.

I will also recommend Ann's Equus: The Horse in the Roman World.

I couldn't get the former, but the latter I could from the library. I wondered about a dry horse-centred book, but it's a great read and covers almost everything.

[Renatus]

You could also try Ann Hyland, Training the Roman Cavalry: From Arrian's Ars Tactica, Stroud, 1993.

I will also recommend Ann's Equus: The Horse in the Roman World.

I couldn't get the former, but the latter I could from the library. I wondered about a dry horse-centred book, but it's a great read and covers almost everything.

Amazon has both, new and second-hand. Equus is pricey but second-hand copies of Training the Roman Cavalry are reasonable.

[PhilusEstilius]

If I am not mistaken in the book Equus there is a picture of the Vindolanda Chamfron that I made, where on the opposite page there is reference to Peter Connolly having made one.
However the one you see is not the one that Connolly made for his was not of the quality of the one that you do see, Peter did of course get an acknowledgement in the book but I would like to point out to readers that might be confused into thinking that this was his work.
I also made the one from Trimontium (Newstead) in Scotland that is displayed at the Roman visitor centre in Melrose, but then I do not think that these two would have been used in any Hippica Gymnasia. There is no evidence of such events at these places possibly Trimontium but not Vindolanda, and then of course there was indication that the Vindolanda piece might have belonged to a man by the name of Veldedius who was groom to the governor of the regiment there.

[Surena]

Thank you everyone, I've ordered Training the Roman Cavalry. I'd love to recreate some of the games, but we'll see how safe they are...

[Vindex]

Thank you everyone, I've ordered Training the Roman Cavalry. I'd love to recreate some of the games, but we'll see how safe they are...

I've read the references you've been given and would say that apart from the training to fight aspect of the cavalry games, there isn't much difference to go old fashioned 1950s/1960s Pony Club games before everyone got too PC for their horse's good and hats and body protectors became the norm! :wink:

Falling off is the best way to learn how to stay on! (although getting a pig sticking lance wrapped round the back of your head when it gets too stuck in the ground can be painful...)

[PhilusEstilius]

I do think that the Hippica Gymnasia would have been a situation where it sorted the boys from the men as far as Horsemanship was concerned.
The kind of riders that we might think of here are guys who could pick up a goat skin bag from the ground in a crowd, very much the same as we can see today with some of those Middle Eastern horsemen.
I did also make the 1st century type B cavalry sport helmet found at Trimontium (displayed at Melrose) so the rider would have had a degree of protection from weapons used.
Then having said that the Trimontium helmet is only around 5 thousands of an inch thick at the top centre area which I discovered when I checked it out with measuring it at the National Museum of Scotland.
A more stronger one is my own creation as shown in my Avatar that is about four different helmets all combined into one.