Hellenic cataphracts

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Hellenic cataphracts

The limited availability of Greek conscripts in the east led to an increasing dependence on mercenary forces, whereas in the Hellenistic armies in the west were continuously involved in wars, which soon exhausted local manpower, paving the way for Roman supremacy in the region. The Diadochi were capable of deploying some of the largest armies of their day, and could easily outmatch the numerical strength of either Phillip II or Alexander 's Macedonian full strength contingents. However, the size of the armies participating in different campaigns could vary extremely, from a few thousand to over 70, soldiers. Of these armies, outside Greece, only a fraction would have been of Greek origin, the rest being allied contingents and conscripts from the local population. Lack of manpower was a serious concern for many Hellenistic rulers. The disparity between the manpower reserves available to Rome and to any other Hellenistic monarch had a profound influence on the way in which the opponents made war. Many states had to rely on mercenaries to bulk up their citizen forces: For example, the army of the Achaean League under Aratus of Sicyon was re-organized to contain a permanent corps of mercenaries that numbered 8, foot soldiers and on horseback, compared with the corps of picked Achaean troops, which numbered only 3, foot and horse. To take another example, by the mid-third century BC, the Spartan citizen population had decreased to a tiny fraction of what it had been at the time of the Persian Wars Cleomenes' army could only field about 5, men [3]. The inchoate reforms of Agis IV in the s BC had failed after a reaction by those opposed to the reforms. The problem of the lack of man-at-arms was then taken up by Cleomenes III of Sparta, who attempted to address it by his radical reforms. Cleomenes launched a coup against his rivals at home and used their demise to push forward a reform to increase Spartan manpower. In BC, Cleomenes cancelled all debts, pooled and divided the large estates and increased the citizen body by enfranchising 5, Perioikoi and ' metics ' resident foreigners.

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The Iranians and Persians pioneered armoured cavalry and the Seleucids were the first western, Hellenised power to see their merit for battle. His Egyptian enemies, led by Skopas of Aetolia, placed cavalry on the army's flanks to shield the infantry in the centre. They were unable to defend themselves against the next mighty charge; the entire Egyptian army broke, and Skopas fled to Sidon. This retreat marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Judea. Seleucid Shock Cavalry Hellenic Cataphracts Incredibly heavy cavalry who can turn the tide of battle with their thunderous charge!

Melee Infantry No. Unit Sol. Custom Cost Recru. Ship Spd. Other Faction's Units Grand Campaign 36 1. Odrysian Kingdom. Royal Scythia.

Hellenic cataphracts

A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalry that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armored horseman, with both the rider and mount almost completely covered in scale armor , and typically wielding a kontos lance as his primary weapon. Cataphracts served as the elite cavalry force for most empires and nations that fielded them, primarily used for charges to break through opposing heavy cavalry and infantry formations. Chronicled by many historians from the earliest days of antiquity up until the High Middle Ages , they may have influenced the later European knights , through contact with the Eastern Roman Empire. In Europe, the fashion for heavily armored Roman cavalry seems to have been a response to the Eastern campaigns of the Parthians and Sasanians in Anatolia , as well as numerous defeats at the hands of Iranian cataphracts across the steppes of Eurasia, most notably in the Battle of Carrhae 53 BC in upper Mesopotamia. Traditionally, Roman cavalry was neither heavily-armored nor decisive in effect; the Roman equites corps comprised mainly lightly-armored horsemen bearing spears and swords and using light cavalry tactics to skirmish before and during battles, and then to pursue retreating enemies after a victory. The adoption of cataphract-like cavalry formations took hold among the late Roman army during the late 3rd and 4th centuries. The Emperor Gallienus r.

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You need to sign in or create an account to do that. Military Saints is a common representative art theme in every Eastern Orthodox project of religious decoration of menologia, psalters, minitures, frescoes,manuscripts or secular iconography numismatics,seals. The previously mentioned term Clibanarii possibly representing a distinct class of cavalry from the cataphract was brought to the fore in the 10th and 11th centuries of the Byzantine Empire, known in Byzantine Greek as Klibanophoros , which appeared to be a throwback to the super-heavy cavalry of earlier antiquity. City states Politics Military. The Romans would later be able to use this weakness against the phalanx as their more mobile maniples could withstand the pressure of the phalanx longer than more traditional formations, thus earning valuable time for their wings to outflank it, as at Cynoscephalae and Magnesia , or for the phalanx to lose its cohesion due to prolonged movement forward or advancement through unfavorable terrain, as at Pydna. Oh, and they now have cloaks. Despite these advances, the Byzantine army, often unable to afford newer equipment en masse , was left ill-equipped and forced to rely on its increasingly archaic military technology. Armour too, was sometimes wrapped around the elephants to protect them and increase the natural defense offered by the thickness of their hides. In Ptolemaic Egypt, for example, soldiers and officers were given rewards "In exchange for military service, whenever needed. Such a comparison was also attempted in the ancient days, as is attested by Polybius' own effort to explain why the Macedonian sarissa was eventually conquered by the Roman gladius. There, should they be defeated, they would have space to retreat without getting in the way of the infantry. With his campaigns in Parthia and Bactria , he came into contact with Cataphracts and copied them.

By the 7 th and 8 th centuries B. Some were armed lightly and were used to harass the enemy from afar with missiles or to pursue routing troops. Other types of cavalry units were heavily armed, and were used as shock troops to break enemy formations.

Camel Spearmen. Roman chroniclers and historians Arrian , Aelian and Asclepiodotus use the term "cataphract" in their military treatises to describe any type of cavalry with either partial or full horse and rider armor. A further category of light cavalry was that of the mounted bowmen, which were collectively called Scythians. I agree Macedon- thanks. Contemporary depictions, however, imply that Byzantine cataphracts were not as completely armored as the earlier Roman and Sassanid incarnation. Instead, there was a system of larger units that had no relation to Roman organization. They are to be used as heavy shock cavalry, but have staying power in melee because of the sheer weight of their armor. This tradition was later paralleled by the rise of feudalism in Christian Europe in the Early Middle Ages and the establishment of the knighthood particularly during the Crusades , while the Eastern Romans continued to maintain a very active corps of cataphracts long after their Western counterparts fell in AD. Yet, regardless of the many Roman victories against the Hellenistic Kingdoms, the legion never won against a phalanx by frontal assault. Change language.