Interesting origins

[Surak-nar]

In searching for the Origins of Kataphractoi Cavalry, or Cataphract Cavalry, I found a very Interesting historical web site about the Parthian Empire.

Could make a Good Candidate for the TW3 Game too as a faction, however they were conquered by Alexander the Great so...

Anyways, interestingly enough they were famous for their Armoured Horses, not only because these were armoured but also because it was a specially bread Horse for that purpose, and their horses were Imported by the Han of China and used against enemies in the Far East.

here is the Link, if goes streight to the Horses section but the Site itself has much much more, with Illustrations and Pictures of Cataphracts, from what has been discovered in Coinage Depictions.

Parthian Horses - Parthian Archers (http://www.parthia.com/parthia_horses_burris.htm)

Enjoy http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Spetulhu]

Interesting site, thanks for the link.

[The Marcher Lord]

Thats a good intro. to the Parthians. The Sassanid Persians developed the heaviest cavalry out of the defeated Parthian armies in the third century AD and were always a nightmare for the Romans. In fact the Romans never did defeat the Sassanid rulers. It would be nice to see the famous 'Parthian shot' built into the archer cavalry movements ie. charge in close to enemy and fire arrows plus retreat firing arrows while turned looking back in the saddle. Crassus lost a whole legion to the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae because of this technique.

[King James I]

Have a look at this site guys
http://www.parthia.com/parthia_horses_burris.htm

Gregoshi edit to fix URL