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The Parthian army that defeated the Romans at Carrhae in 53 BC operated primarily as a combined arms team of cataphracts and horse archers against the Roman heavy infantry. The Parthian horse archers encircled the Roman formation and bombarded it with arrows from all sides, forcing the legionaries to form the Testudo or "tortoise" formation to ...
The Parthian forces mainly consisted of two types of cavalry; the cataphracts, heavy cavalry with man and horse decked in mailed armor, [3] who formed the smaller part of the cavalry. [4] The second and main component of the cavalry were the mounted archers, light cavalry whose mobility and long-range warfare abilities made them a menacing ...
The Parthian cataphracts exploited that weakness and repeatedly charged the Roman line, which caused panic and inflicted heavy casualties. [27] When the Romans tried to loosen their formation to repel the cataphracts, the latter rapidly retreated, and the horse archers resumed shooting at the legionaries, who were now more exposed. [26]
The Grivpanvar (literally: neck-guard wearer) were an elite late Parthian and Sasanian division who fought as heavy cataphract cavalry. According to Roman sources, the Grivpanvar had the ability to impale two men on the long, heavy spears that they carried.
In combination with the heavy cataphract cavalry they formed a very effective force that had already annihilated a Roman army at Carrhae. [31] The Romans were well aware that their victory was still fragile, and that as soon as the Parthian king had dealt with the Hyrcanian rebellion, he would turn his attention to Armenia.
The main striking force of the Parthian army was its cataphracts, heavy cavalry with man and horse decked in mailed armor. [217] The cataphracts were equipped with a lance for charging into enemy lines, but were not equipped with bows and arrows which were restricted to horse archers. [218]
The word comes from the Old Persian word asabāra (from asa- and bar, a frequently used Achaemenid military technical term). [citation needed] The various other renderings of the word are the following: Parthian asbār (spelt spbr or SWSYN), Middle Persian aswār (spelt ʼswbʼl or SWSYA), Classical Persian suwār (سوار), uswār/iswār (اسوار), Modern Persian savār (سوار).
The Parthian Empire of Ancient Iran marks an early recorded utilization of armoured cavalry in warfare, and are specifically believed to have given rise to the tradition of very heavily armoured cataphract lancers.