12-11-2008, 02:37 PM
The George T Dennis translation of Three Byzantine Military Treatises has a reference to "iron soles". It is found in the Anonymous Treatise on Strategy. See section 39 on Night Combat. These are explicity worn by the advance party as protection against caltrops and stakes they may encounter.
In section 17 of the Anonymous - The Cavalry Phalanx and Its Formation -the horses of the front line are to be given iron armour for head, breast and neck as well as "iron plates" to protect their hooves so that they will be protected by against caltrops and similar devices.
In Eric McGreers translations of the 10th C Praecepta Militaria of Nikephoros II Phokas and the Taktika of Nikephoros Ouranos kataphrakts are covered but no mention of iron shoes is made. However , he mentions a poem written by al-Mutanabbi commemorating Sayf al Dawla's triumph over Bardas Phokas at Hadat. In that poem al-Mutanabbi records the Arabs' amazement at the sight of kataphraktoi " who advanced on horses which seemed to have no legs" and whose" helmets and garments were of iron like their swords".
Phokas' Praecepta Militaria prescribes two sorts of horse armour. (See III. On the Kataphraktoi ) One was made from quilted felt or pieces of boiled leather fastened together and covering the horses face (except for eyes and nostrils) and its body down to the knees. The other was made of bison hides and covered the horse in the same way. Ouranos description in section 60 of his his Taktika is almost identical.
In section 17 of the Anonymous - The Cavalry Phalanx and Its Formation -the horses of the front line are to be given iron armour for head, breast and neck as well as "iron plates" to protect their hooves so that they will be protected by against caltrops and similar devices.
In Eric McGreers translations of the 10th C Praecepta Militaria of Nikephoros II Phokas and the Taktika of Nikephoros Ouranos kataphrakts are covered but no mention of iron shoes is made. However , he mentions a poem written by al-Mutanabbi commemorating Sayf al Dawla's triumph over Bardas Phokas at Hadat. In that poem al-Mutanabbi records the Arabs' amazement at the sight of kataphraktoi " who advanced on horses which seemed to have no legs" and whose" helmets and garments were of iron like their swords".
Phokas' Praecepta Militaria prescribes two sorts of horse armour. (See III. On the Kataphraktoi ) One was made from quilted felt or pieces of boiled leather fastened together and covering the horses face (except for eyes and nostrils) and its body down to the knees. The other was made of bison hides and covered the horse in the same way. Ouranos description in section 60 of his his Taktika is almost identical.
Peter Raftos