01-14-2007, 07:36 PM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... t-Iran.JPG The Persian Knight, Sassanid dynasty (226-637).
Their flexible but strong scale armor was made from overlapping plates of bronze or iron sewn onto an undergarment of leather, both on rider and horse. A close-fitting helmet that covered the head and neck was worn, with only narrow slits for the eyes. Procopius writing in the 6th century describes the sight of massed Persian cataphracts: All the companies were clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff-joints conformed to those of their limbs. The forms of human faces were so skillfully fitted to their heads that since their entire body was covered with metal; arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings opposite the pupil of the eye, or where through the tip of their nose they were able to get a little breath.
Just thought I'd drop my two cents worth, all the pics of the Cataphracts look good but they don't fit the description of Clibanarii. From what I have heard the Cataphracts were the lighter archery units with the Clibanarii being the heavier shock troops. The problem with the roman descriptions is they considered them all Cataphracts but this just isn't true while collectively they were all Cataphracts, not all Cataphracts where Clibanarii. The Clibanarii would sweep through the enemy in a swift devastating charge contacting and and separating enemy unit cohesion. The Cataphracts following close on the heels of the Clibanarii charge blanket the enemy with a deadly hail of arrows.
like I said just my two cents worth.
Their flexible but strong scale armor was made from overlapping plates of bronze or iron sewn onto an undergarment of leather, both on rider and horse. A close-fitting helmet that covered the head and neck was worn, with only narrow slits for the eyes. Procopius writing in the 6th century describes the sight of massed Persian cataphracts: All the companies were clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff-joints conformed to those of their limbs. The forms of human faces were so skillfully fitted to their heads that since their entire body was covered with metal; arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings opposite the pupil of the eye, or where through the tip of their nose they were able to get a little breath.
Just thought I'd drop my two cents worth, all the pics of the Cataphracts look good but they don't fit the description of Clibanarii. From what I have heard the Cataphracts were the lighter archery units with the Clibanarii being the heavier shock troops. The problem with the roman descriptions is they considered them all Cataphracts but this just isn't true while collectively they were all Cataphracts, not all Cataphracts where Clibanarii. The Clibanarii would sweep through the enemy in a swift devastating charge contacting and and separating enemy unit cohesion. The Cataphracts following close on the heels of the Clibanarii charge blanket the enemy with a deadly hail of arrows.
like I said just my two cents worth.
