Hat 8285 Sassanid Clibanarii

The Sassanid state is a power that in ancient times stretched over the area of today's Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, but also periodically in a large part of Turkey or Pakistan. It is assumed that this state was formed around AD 220 and existed until AD 651, until the Arab conquest. In the late antiquity, it repeatedly entered into armed conflicts with the Roman state, and later - in the 5th and 6th centuries - it also fought against the Byzantine Empire. This state had an efficient war machine, which probably could mobilize an army of up to 100 to 130-150 thousand. people. The army of the Sassanid state consisted of three formations: cavalry, fighting elephant units and infantry. Undoubtedly, the cavalry unit of the Sassanid army with the highest combat value was the clibanarii. It was a heavy cavalry, modeled on the Parisian cataphracts, designed to perform charges on the battlefield and break enemy lines. The soldier fighting in this formation was always very well armored - often literally from head to toe. Scale and lamellar armor, and later also chainmail, were often used in this formation. The combat steed was also well armored - especially around the head and front of the body. The main offensive weapons were a relatively long spear and a sword. Sassanid clibanarii were also characterized by high morale and very good training.