|
Grivpanvar
The ''Grivpanvar'' (literally: neck-guard wearer) were an elite late Parthian and Sasanian division who fought as heavy cataphract cavalry. According to Roman sources, the Grivpanvar had the ability to impale two men on the long, heavy spears that they carried. Historical evidence suggests that the heavily armoured Parthian grivpanvar were at least partially influenced by the military of the Central Asian steppes, who in turn had inherited their armoured cavalry traditions from the Massagetae and the late Achaemenid Persians. Etymology The name Grivpanvar derives from the Middle Persian term ''grīw-bān'' (neck-guard), a helmet armour guard, from whence "grivpan" warrior. In the 3rd century AD, the Romans began to deploy such cavalry calling them ''clibanarii'', a name thought to derive from ''griwbanwar'' or ''griva-pana-bara''. Weapons and tactics Weapons and tactics used by the Grivpanvars were analogous to those of cataphract cavalry. Clad in chain mail with a breastplat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalryman that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. The English word derives from the Greek ' (plural: '), literally meaning "armored" or "completely enclosed" (the prefix ''kata-''/''cata-'' implying "intense" or "completely"). Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armored horseman, with both the rider and mount almost completely covered in scale armor, and typically wielding a kontos or lance as his primary weapon. Cataphracts served as the elite cavalry force for most empires and nations that fielded them, primarily used for charges to break through opposing heavy cavalry and infantry formations. Chronicled by many historians from the earliest days of antiquity up until the High Middle Ages, they may have influenced the later European knights, through contact with the Eastern Roman Empire.Nell, Grant S. (1995) ''The Savaran: The Original Knights''. University of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sassanid Army
The Sasanian army was the primary military body of the Sasanian armed forces, serving alongside the Sasanian navy. The birth of the army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I (r. 224–241), the founder of the Sasanian Empire, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose officers were separate from satraps, local princes and nobility. He restored the Achaemenid military organizations, retained the Parthian cavalry model, and employed new types of armour and siege warfare techniques. This was the beginning for a military system which served him and his successors for over 400 years, during which the Sasanian Empire was, along with the Roman Empire and later the East Roman Empire, one of the two superpowers of Late Antiquity in Western Eurasia. The Sasanian army protected '' Eranshahr'' ("the realm of Iran") from the East against the in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clibinarii
The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi ( el, κλιβανοφόροι, meaning "camp oven-bearers" from the Greek word meaning "camp oven" or "metallic furnace"), in Persian Grivpanvar, were a Sasanian Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of armored heavy cavalry. Description Similar to the cataphracti, the horsemen themselves and their horses were fully armoured. There are several theories to the origins of this name, one being that the men were literally nicknamed "camp oven-bearers", due to the amount of armour they wore causing them to heat up very quickly in battle, or that the name is derived from Persian word '' griwbanwar'' or ''griva-pana-bara'' meaning "neck-guard wearer". Encyclopædia Iranica. December 15, 1986, Updated: August 12, 2011. The clibanarii cavalry of |
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalryman that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. The English word derives from the Greek ' (plural: '), literally meaning "armored" or "completely enclosed" (the prefix ''kata-''/''cata-'' implying "intense" or "completely"). Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armored horseman, with both the rider and mount almost completely covered in scale armor, and typically wielding a kontos or lance as his primary weapon. Cataphracts served as the elite cavalry force for most empires and nations that fielded them, primarily used for charges to break through opposing heavy cavalry and infantry formations. Chronicled by many historians from the earliest days of antiquity up until the High Middle Ages, they may have influenced the later European knights, through contact with the Eastern Roman Empire.Nell, Grant S. (1995) ''The Savaran: The Original Knights''. University of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Nisibis (217)
The Battle of Nisibis was fought in the summer of 217 between the armies of the Roman Empire under the newly ascended emperor Macrinus and the Parthian army of King Artabanus IV of Parthia, Artabanus IV. It lasted for three days, and ended with a bloody Parthian victory, with both sides suffering large casualties. As a result of the battle, Macrinus was forced to seek peace, paying the Parthians a huge sum and abandoning the invasion of Mesopotamia that Caracalla had begun a year before. Background For centuries, Rome and Parthia had dominated the Middle East and antagonized each other. During that period, several invasions of Parthian territory were led by Roman leaders, most notably the Battle of Carrhae, failed campaign of Crassus and the conquest of Mesopotamia by Trajan. In the early 210s, a civil war broke out in the Parthian Empire, where Artabanus IV of Parthia, Artabanus IV rose up against his brother Vologases VI of Parthia, Vologases VI. Artabanus quickly established c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parthia
Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, and formed part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire following the 4th-century-BC conquests of Alexander the Great. The region later served as the political and cultural base of the Eastern Iranian Parni people and Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD). The Sasanian Empire, the last state of pre-Islamic Iran, also held the region and maintained the seven Parthian clans as part of their feudal aristocracy. Name The name "Parthia" is a continuation from Latin ', from Old Persian ', which was the Parthian language self-designator signifying "of the Parthians" who were an Iranian peo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caltrops
A caltrop (also known as caltrap, galtrop, cheval trap, galthrap, galtrap, calthrop, jackrock or crow's foot''Battle of Alesia'' (Caesar's conquest of Gaul in 52 BC), Battlefield Detectives program, (2006), rebroadcast: 2008-09-08 on History Channel International (13:00-14:00 hrs EDST); Note: No mention of name caltrop at all, but illustrated and given as battle key to defend Roman lines of circumvallation per recent digs evidence.) is an area denial weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base (for example, a tetrahedron). Historically, caltrops were part of defences that served to slow the advance of troops, especially horses, chariots, and war elephants, and were particularly effective against the soft feet of camels. In modern times, caltrops are effective when used against wheeled vehicles with pneumatic tires. Name The modern name "caltrop" is derived from the Old English (heel-trap), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spahbod
''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasanian army. From the time of Khosrow I ( 531–579) on, the office was split in four, with a ''spāhbed'' for each of the cardinal directions.Gyselen (2004) After the Muslim conquest of Persia, the ''spāhbed'' of the East managed to retain his authority over the inaccessible mountainous region of Tabaristan on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, where the title, often in its Islamic form ( fa, اسپهبذ; in ar, اصبهبذ ), survived as a regnal title until the Mongol conquests of the 13th century.Bosworth (1978), pp. 207–208 An equivalent title of Persian origin, '' ispahsālār or sipahsālār'', gained great currency across the Muslim world in the 10th–15th centuries. The title was also adopted by the Armenians ( hy, սպ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pushtigban Body Guards
The ''pushtigban'' was an elite military unit of the Sasanian Empire, charged with the protection of the List of kings of Persia, Persian Emperor. They were stationed during peacetime in the royal capital of Ctesiphon and were drawn from the best of the ranks of the Sasanian Savārān cavalry. They numbered 1000 men, under the command of the ''pushtigban-salar'' ; in battle they fought mostly as cataphracts, heavily armed and armoured horsemen who would charge enemy positions with tremendous momentum. There are allusions to the participation of this unit in sources describing the Shapur II's Arab campaign and Siege of Amida (359), Siege of Amida (359). A sub-unit of ''pushtigban'' were the ''gyan-avspar'', the "sacrificers of their lives" - the best of the ''pushtigban''. The ''pushtigban'' fought with distinction and zeal befitting their name during Julian's Persian War, Julian's invasion of Persia in the 4th century AD. The ''pushtigban'' disappeared with the Muslim conquest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shapur II's Arab Campaign
The Shapur II's Arab campaign took place in 325, against numerous Arab tribes, due to the Arab incursions into the Sasanian Empire. Shapur II decisively defeated all the Arab tribes during his campaign, and became known as ''Dhū al-Aktāf'' to the Arabs, meaning “he who pierces shoulders”. Arab incursions During the childhood of Shapur II, Arab nomads made several incursions into the Sasanian homeland of Pars, where they raided Gor and its surroundings. Furthermore, they also made incursions into Meshan and Mazun. Shapur II's campaign At the age of 16, Shapur II led an expedition against the Arabs. According to al-Tabari, he hand-picked 1,000 cavalrymen for the campaign, a possible reference to the '' pushtigban'' unit. He primarily campaigned against the Iyad tribe in Asoristan and thereafter he crossed the Persian Gulf, reaching al-Khatt, a region between present-day Bahrain and Qatar. He then attacked the Banu Tamim in Hajar mountains. Shapur II reportedly killed a large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials ( senators and procurators) and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor and then proclaim his successor as the new '' caesar'' of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria. In the Roman Republic In the period of the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) the Praetorian Guard originated as bodygua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerian (emperor)
Valerian (; la, Publius Licinius Valerianus; c. 199 – 260 or 264) was Roman emperor from 253 to spring 260 AD. He persecuted Christians and was later taken captive by the Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the first Roman emperor to be captured as a prisoner of war, causing shock and instability throughout the Roman Empire. The unprecedented event and the unknown fate of the captured emperor generated a variety of different reactions and "new narratives about the Roman Empire in diverse contexts". Biography Origins and rise to power Unlike many of the would-be emperors and rebels who vied for imperial power during the Crisis of the Third Century of the Roman Empire, Valerian was of a noble and traditional senatorial family. Details of his early life are sparse, except for his marriage to Egnatia Mariniana, with whom he had two sons: later emperor Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus and Licinius Valerianus. He was Consul for the first tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Cataphract")
_obverse.jpg "Click for more on -> Valerian (emperor)")