Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Arabic word asāwira (أساورة), used to refer to a certain faction of the Sasanian cavalry after the Muslim conquest, is a broken plural form of the Middle Persian aswār. [2] However, the word aswār only means "horseman" in Middle Persian literature, and it is only the late Arabic term that has a more specialized meaning.
A cataphract was a form of armoured heavy cavalry that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armoured horseman, with both the rider and mount almost completely covered in scale or lamellar armour over chain mail , and typically wielding a ...
During the time of Achaemenid Persia cavalry was the elite arm of service (as was the case in most civilizations), and many Persian horsemen such as the bodyguard unit of Cyrus the Younger were rather heavily armoured by the standards of the era. By the time of Alexander's invasion cataphract units with both men and beasts being fully encased ...
In short, there were the following classes of mobile cavalry troops: Persian immortal guard ; Azadan nobility Aswaran: elite cavalry also described as the Persian knightly caste (see below) War elephants; Light cavalry: primarily horse-archers; Dehqan cavalry: Medium-armoured cavalry armed with lance and bow
Depiction of the "Susian guards" from the Palace of Darius in Susa.Their garments match the description of the Immortals by ancient authors. [1]Immortals (Greek: Ἀθάνατοι Athánatoi), or Persian Immortals, was the name given by the Greek historian Herodotus to a 10,000-strong unit of elite heavy infantry in the Achaemenid army.
The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi (Greek: κλιβανοφόροι, meaning "camp oven-bearers" from the Greek word κλίβανος meaning "camp oven" or "metallic furnace" [citation needed]), in Persian Grivpanvar, were a Sasanian Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of armored heavy cavalry.
Ancient Persia first emerged as a major military power under Cyrus the Great. Its form of warfare was based on massed infantry in light armor to pin the enemy force whilst cavalry dealt the killing blow. Cavalry was used in huge numbers but it is not known whether they were heavily armored or not.
The Persian king Hormizd II hunts a lion by a Parthian shot. Relief from the "Hephthalite bowl", depicting a Parthian shotThe Parthian shot is a light cavalry hit-and-run tactic made famous by the Parthians, an ancient Iranian people.