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The Achaemenid Empire (559–330 BCE) was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran. The empire possessed a "national army" of roughly 120.000–150.000 troops, plus several tens of thousands of troops from their allies. The Persian army was divided into regiments of a thousand each, called hazarabam.
Parts of the aswaran division were high-ranking including the Pushtigban Body Guards, a super heavy shock cavalry, who were the royal guards of the Shah himself. The influential aswaran cavalry were mostly made up of heavily armoured cavalry, generally composed of aristocracy or even from the imperial family themselves. There were also ...
The sipahi (Persian: سپاهی sipâhi, Turkish pronunciation:) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. [1] Sipahi units included the land grant–holding provincial timarli sipahi, which constituted most of the army, and the salaried regular kapikulu sipahi, or palace troops.
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
The Persian king, like the Assyrian, was also "King of Kings", xšāyaθiya xšāyaθiyānām (shāhanshāh in modern Persian) – "great king", Megas Basileus, as known by the Greeks. Cyrus's son, Cambyses II , conquered the last major power of the region, ancient Egypt , causing the collapse of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt .
The Persian shield-bearers were further equipped with short spears to increase their effectiveness. [2] The Sparabara were taken from the full members of Persian society, they were trained from childhood to be soldiers and when not called out to fight on campaigns in distant lands they practised hunting on the vast plains of Persia.
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.
Most of these troops were light cavalry. The light cavalry wore four-cornered hats (kulah-e Naderi) eighteen inches high, with a goat skin or sheepskin wound round it; a woolen cloak on their shoulders; an open shirt red, yellow, or green in color; short breeches; and leather boots. Many also wore armor, both mail and plate. Each light ...