Mesopotamia units

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

even if smart, we will ask sandris to make some small additions to the mesopotamia pack...

 

[Vinduu]

The IB:SAI team claimed that they have evidence from Roman Historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Libianus and other non Roman historians that confirmed Sassanid have such infantry.

 

[Quinzy]

Unfortunately, classical descriptions are unreliable at best, if the events contained there within even occurred. The fathers of history, unfortunately, did not footnote.

Then again, we work with what we have; that goes for both Sandris and the IB team

 

[Vinduu]

Some information was deliberately distorted due to the political situation but with trained eye and observation even distorted information could become a valuable information.

 

[Vinduu]

I found some unit from IB:SAI :

Savârân-î Kûshânshahr

Historically, Sassanid Empire do not field light cavalry or horse archer but they use Saka cavalry and Lakhmid Arab tribal cavalry to fight for the Sassanid Army.

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

they did not use horse archers??? really??

 

[Vinduu]

What i wish to tell you that Sassanid Army have allies and vassals which provide superior horse archer that they don't even need to field their horse archer. During the reign of Shapur II, the Sassanids have abandoned mounted archery because armored lancers are better than horse archer or heavy horse archer, but it changed when the Sassanids suffered a major defeat against the Hephthalites. Due to the military disaster, reforms was initiated by Khosrow I which cavalry must arm themselves with lance, sword, mace or battle axe and bow and arrow and mail armor, lamellar armor, and and horse armor that covers half of the horse and not the whole body.

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

what do you say about persian asawira cavalry units??

sagitarii iuniores orientalis is the name of a cataphract unit that was multipurpose cavalry, i think you are not right and i will also ask you if you can explain why heavy cataphract cavalry appeared on the battlefield??

 

[Vinduu]

Since Savaran cavalry have master both close quarter combat and mounted archery, it has become useless to maintain horse archer regiment. Horse archers was used during Islamic Conquest when Persia lacks adequate manpower and resources to defend themselves.

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

ohh i understand now you mean that there where not special regiments of only horse archers, but that there were regiments of multipurpose cavalry??

 

[Vinduu]

Arabic broken plural form of a singular oswār(&#299, eswār(&#299, early recognized by Arab philologists as a loanword from Persian meaning “cavalryman.” It could be a cavalrymen of Iranian origin or mercenary.

Sagitarii Iuniores Orientalis was created to encounter Sassanid cavalrymen of foreign origin which excels in both mounted archery and hand-to-hand combat.

Super Heavy Cataphract or Clibanarii was a concept developed by the Romans to beat the Sassanid Savaran, while the concept was duplicated by the Sassanid Persians to defeat Roman Legionaries. But it lacks flexibility and mobility that renders them obsolete in the battlefield.

 

[Vinduu]

Yes, that's what i mean.

 

[Vinduu]

I found some pictures from Europa Barbarorum:

Parthohellenikoi Thureophoroi (Parthian Hellenic Infantry)

Gund-i Nizagan (Parthian Spearmen)

Shivatir-i Pahlavanig (Parthian Horse-Archers)

Dehbed Asavara (Parthian Noble Medium Cavalry)

Azad Asavaran (Parthian Noble Cataphracts)

Grivpanvar (Parthian Late Armored Elite Cataphracts)

Marda Shivatir (Mardian Archers)

Verkhana Kofyaren (Hyrkanian Hillmen)

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

nice to meet somebody who knows something about warfare...

 

[Raffles]

Hi Sandris!

 

[Jerry'sGoldfish]

correct vinduu but why did cataphract units appear on the battlefield??

ps what is their role in battle??

 

[ShiroKobbure]

I think maybe vinduu and Jerry should make a new thread to discuss these topics and requests.

 

[Vinduu]

Horse archer could not sustain close quarter combat, a a result cataphract was formed to meet the requirement.

 

[Vinduu]

Parthians do not field regular infantry but they rely on levy and foreigners to fight under Parthian banner. They are weak on siegecraft and siege equipment are useless because they didn't know how to use it.

 

[Takhisis]

And where *do* these Parthians live? Anyone would have thought their rule hadn't fallen nearly two thousand years ago.