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Roman Auxilia cavalry were usually heavily armored in mail and armed with a short lance, javelins, spatha long swords and sometimes bows for specialist horse archer units. These men primarily served as medium missile cavalry for flanking, scouting, skirmish, and pursuit.
117–138 AD) that the first regular formations of Roman cataphractarii appear in the record. [8] However, the description by Josephus of heavily armoured, contus-armed Roman cavalry in 67 AD at the siege of Jotapata, during the reign of Vespasian, suggests that cataphracts may have been adopted by the Romans at an considerably earlier date. [9]
Re-enactor with Pompeii-type gladius The Mainz Gladius on display at the British Museum, London. Gladius is the general Latin word for 'sword'. In the Roman Republic, the term gladius Hispaniensis (Spanish sword) referred (and still refers) specifically to the short sword, 60 cm (24 inches) long, used by Roman legionaries from the 3rd century BC.
Stratelates – A Greek translation for the rank of magister militum that was used in the late Roman and Byzantine armies. Stratopedarches – A term originally used to refer to a Roman camp prefect, it was later used for a Roman or Byzantine general or a Byzantine commander-in-chief. Tablifer – A standard-bearer for the guard cavalry.
However, the cavalry of the Late Roman army was endowed with greater numbers of specialised units, such as extra-heavy shock cavalry (cataphractii and clibanarii) and mounted archers. [3] During the later 4th century, the cavalry acquired a reputation for incompetence and cowardice for their role in three major battles.
Cataphract cavalry needed immensely strong and endurant horses, and without selectively breeding horses for muscular strength and hardiness, they would have surely not been able to bear the immense loads of armor and a rider during the strain of battle. [8] The Near East is generally believed to have been the focal point for where this first ...
This cavalry regiment was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Tarquinius Priscus (conventional dates 616-578 BC). [29] That the cavalry was increased to 600 during the regal era is likely, as in the early Republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (two legions with 300 horses each). [30]
The use of bows as primary weapons probably originated in the East in the later 4th and earlier 5th centuries to help the Roman army counter Persian and Hunnic bow-armed cavalry. By the time of Procopius's histories and Maurikios's Strategikon, the main effective field arm of Roman armies was cavalry, many of them armed with bows. After the ...