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The Byzantines fielded various types of light cavalry to complement the kataphraktoi, in much the same way as the Hellenistic kingdoms employed auxiliary light infantry to support their heavily armored phalangites. Due to the empire's long experience, they were wary of relying too much upon foreign auxiliaries or mercenaries (with the notable ...
The focus then turns to the deployment of the kataphraktoi and general tactics for cavalry fighting independently against both infantry and cavalry. Three aspects of battle have particular attention paid to them: how infantry were to defend against cavalry, how the kataphraktoi were to attack infantry, and how an army should pursue a defeated ...
Historical reenactment of a Sasanian-era cataphract, complete with a full set of scale armour for the horse. The rider is covered by extensive mail armour.. A cataphract was a form of armoured heavy cavalry that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa.
The charge of the lancers, and the subsequent melee, was often the decisive event in battle. [124] The lance-armed heavy cavalry of the Komnenian army were of two origins, firstly 'Latin knights', and secondly native kataphraktoi.
It is difficult to determine when exactly the cataphract saw his final day in battle. After all, both cataphracts and knights fulfilled a similar role on the medieval battlefield, and the armoured knight survived well into the modern age. The Byzantines called all heavy shock cavalry kataphraktoi.
The tenth century kataphraktoi were instructed to carry heavy iron maces (siderorabdia) – six-, four- or three-cornered – to bludgeon enemy soldiers through their armor. [68] Double-headed symmetric and asymmetric battle axes, as well as single headed axes, are mentioned in the primary sources.
Sylloge Tacticorum is thought to have been written in the middle of the tenth century, [1] and is a work on the making of order and organization of military forces (i.e. tactics), and ways to outwit and overcome opponents in the field of battle (i.e. through the use of stratagems).
The Seleucid army was the army of the Seleucid Empire, one of the numerous Hellenistic states that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great.. As with the other major Hellenistic armies, the Seleucid army fought primarily in the Greco-Macedonian style, with its main body being the phalanx.