Cataphracts ( Tanks of the Ancient World)...Before there were Knights

many centuries before the night dominated the battlefields of medieval Europe far to the east their predecessor the cataphract a heavily armored mounted warrior inspired awe and terror in their opponents cataphract is a transliteration of a Greek term meaning covered with armor which accurately describes this class of horse and rider the earliest known heavily armored human and horse collaborations were utilized by the empires of the late ancient Near Eastern Bronze Age chariots drawn by horses covered in barding which is horse armor carried bronze clad warriors a truly expensive and potent symbol of Imperial might much later the Syrian Empire was the first state to use large numbers of cavalry on the battlefield beginning in the 9th century BC gradually all major states replaced chariots with cavalry in their armies on the periphery of the Iranian plateau in what is now Turkey menaced an and Afghanistan semi-nomadic Iranian speaking peoples began using significant amounts of armor on larger breeds of horses the Persian Achaemenid Empire incorporated these heavy cavalry troops in their armies these were the earliest iterations of cataphracts used after the Empire's conquest by Alexander the succeeding cell you said in Parthian empires further developed the tactics arms and armor of the cataphract during the Parthian Empire the cataphract developed into a more heavily armored Horseman than ever before been almost completely covered in metal they carried the cantos a cavalry Pike which was an adapted version of the Greeks Iceland used by the cell uses the Romans first came into contact with the cataracts through conflict with these empires as well as with the Iranian speaking Sarmatian 's who had migrated to the north of the Roman Empire the Romans were slow to integrate their use captured enemies and small units of foreign auxiliary troops were the first cataracts used in Roman armies notably the Tsar Nations and Armenians the true age of the cataphract occurred during the third through seventh centuries ad after the Sassanid Persians overthrew the Parthian z-- high quality cataracts were used in greater numbers not only by the sasanian z-- but also by the Romans sassanids strategy and tactics were intrinsically different from the Parthian 's while the Parthian z' preferred to fight a defensive war of attrition against the romans within their own familiar territory the persians were far more aggressive choosing to invade and fight on Roman territory on the battlefield the Parthian z' heavily relied on the hit-and-run tactics of their skill mounted archers only when an enemy was exhausted wounded and frustrated with the cataracts comprised of the Parthian nobility be sent in to break and mop up the enemy infantry cataracts would also be used to protect their own horse archers from light enemy cavalry counter-attacks while a typical Parthian army included a little more than a thousand cataracts in contrast a standard sassanid army own campaign would field over ten times that number the Saverin cataphracts form the vanguard of the sasanian battle order and would directly engage roman heavy infantry which were still arguably the best in the world while supported by horse archers to their rear if the opposing army did not break after the initial charge the sovereign would withdrawal to the rear while being covered by volleys from the horse archers alternatively a similar strategy was also employed where infantry followed the cataphracts initial assault in reaction to assassinate Persian success on the battlefield the Romans did what they did best they adapted over the three centuries of strife between the two great empires the Romans recruited an ever-increasing number of cataracts not only from enemy captives allies and vassals but from Imperial citizens particularly from provinces with strong horse riding traditions such as Macedonia Thessaly Thrace Syria and lesser Armenia over time cataracts transitioned from specialized for an auxilary troops of minor importance to the most prestigious and renowned units in the empire they adopted many Iranian arms armor and cavalry techniques throughout their history the Sassanid Persians also greatly increase the number of cataracts in their army they were able to equip maintained and trained more because they were significantly wealthier and more populous compared to the earlier Parthian Empire which only equipped the most venerable nobility is cataracts the sasanian elite heavy cavalry were known as the sovereign at the top the seven Great Houses of the Sassanid Empire called those again supplied the most formidable cavalry for which no expense was spared these extended families were very large with thousands of members and hundreds of military age males many of whom fought with retinues of additional cataracts equipped by the family the house of Sasan was the first of these great houses led by the Shan Shah meaning King of Kings the six other great houses were of complete or partial parking ancestry and were engaged in a near constant power struggle with the Shan Shaw more numerous in the sovereign with as a den a large class of higher nobility they trace back their ancestry to those that fought alongside Cyrus the Great and established the first Persian Empire over a thousand years before the fall of the sassanids in the later portion of Sasson and history the Deccan class of lower landed semi nobility also joined the ranks of the sovereign greatly increasing their numbers additionally fassl Kings such as the Kushan Shahs and the Armenian King often fought alongside the sasanian Shan Shah accompanied by their own contingents of cataracts both Parthian and later sassanid cataracts used the cantos to great effect on initial impact with infantry Roman writers were counted how two men could be impaled at once by the great spear in addition to a long slashing sword which was always carried as a sidearm a wide variety of maces in axis were also used in close combat maces were the preferred Persian weapon unlocked in combat with heavy infantry or with other cataracts often cataphract armor was of such high quality that a slashed from a sword or thrust from a Lance would cause little to no significant damage or glanced right off in contrast the percussion of a may strike could break the bones of a horseman wearing the latest and greatest armor or if struck on the head he could be rendered unconscious or incapacitated the Saverin also practiced a regimented weight training and martial art still practiced today and recognized by UNESCO as the world's longest-running form of strength training this greatly aided the sovereign and their cranium crushing activities where heroic titles could be granted such as having the strength of a thousand men mid to later sassanid Severn willful carried a bow so that if the situation presented itself enemy if intrigued could be softened up before the charge there are also accounts that the sovereign carried a weapon which was five shot and single-use and may have been a peculiar type of crossbow after more than three centuries of war with Romans in which both empires expended massive amounts of human and material resources the sassanid dynasty fell to the first Arab Empire Saverin cataphract arms tactics and culture did not die with them these had already been adopted by the Turks and the Arabs soon after as the Romans had done earlier your interaction with Rome the Germanic kingdoms that arose in the ashes of the Western Roman Empire adopted elements of cataphract weapons tactics and culture these were modified and improved over the centuries and evolved into the iconic Knights from the Normans through the Crusades and Renaissance the sovereign cataphracts personal heraldry and jousting for honor and to settle conflicts would have been aspects of their culture that would have seemed very familiar to medieval Knights despite the similarities there were several notable differences between the two the Roman cataphract survived and continued to evolve I've already been quite similar to the earliest medieval Knights of Western Europe which later surpassed them in the development of their military technology for this video I spent well over a week and many hours working on this drawing I really enjoyed making it and hope you liked it if so please leave like that really helps me to continue doing what I love today I just hit 300,000 subscribers which is amazing I never thought I'd get there when I first started this channel and I can't thank all of you enough patrons subscribers viewers from the bottom of my heart thank you for making my life so enjoyable and I hope I have made yours a little more entertaining educational and enjoyable as well this has been Epimetheus thank you so much for watching

Channel: Epimetheus

Views: 337,093

Keywords: Cataphracts, Byzantine empire, roman empire, persian empire, knights cataphracts, knights, history, documentary, epimetheus, sassanid, sasanian, persia rome, roman sassanid, cataphract documentary, cataphract armor, cataphract cavalry, byzantine, roman history, persian history, cataphract history, eastern roman empire, savaran, knight evolution, knight history, cavalry, roman cavalry, persian cavalry, cavalry history, cataphracts, parthians, parthian empire, ancient history, ancient

Id: YGCP9QVlo6g

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 25 2020