Cowardly or clever? A Pahlav AAR

[johnhughthom]

Lesson 1 extra reading.

271 BC saw the first battle in the Parthia-Saka conflict. The town of Chach had been an important buffer between the Seleukid Empire and the Saka warlords but had been taken by the Saka the previous year. This gave them a base from which they could strike deeper into Seleukid territory than they had previously been able. Therefore it was an important target for the Parthians to take and would give Antiochus' Empire some much needed breathing room in the east.

The Parthian horde was almost twice as large as the Saka contingent in the town. They were led by a man named Aryandes, the son of the ruler of the Saka confederation and a man of huge influence in the region. Half of the army were horse archers, heavily armoured noblemen from various Saka tribes and easily the match of the heaviest of the Parthians, and the other half foot archers.



It seems the King had lagged behind the rest of the horde as his son was ill and couldn't keep up. A man by the name of Harasp was given command of the army, assisted by the 17 year old grandson of the King. Harasp was a famed warrior amongst all the tribes of the confederation and liked to lead his army from the front with no fear of diving straight into battle.


The battle was a convincing Parthian victory, the heavy horsemen charged the Saka Prince right off while the lighter horse peppered the foot archers from a distance. The Saka Prince put up a great fight and his bodyguard accounted for the majority of the Parthian losses. He was only human though and, being surrounded on four sides by Parthian horsemen, he was cut down and his army lost heart. With the defeat of the cavalry the few remaining foot archers huddled in the town square were shown no mercy and hacked down in front of the terrified residents. Harasp was aware the locals had only been conquered recently and few had been part of the Saka attacks and was able to keep his victorious army reigned in so little looting took place.