220 Chinese Clay Figures 



Finally, in his concluding chapter (VIII, 8, 22), in which Xenophon 

 laments the gradual degeneracy of the Persians after the death of Cyrus, 

 he sums up again by saying that Cyrus, after breaking them of the habit 

 of skirmishing at a distance, armed with breastplates both men and 

 their horses, gave every one a javelin in his hand, and trained them to 

 close fighting; but now, the historian complains, they neither skirmish 

 from a distance, nor do they engage hand in hand. In this passage it is 

 clearly stated that Cyrus was the father of a new mode of tactics, and 

 that this method was exactly what we understand by regular cavalry 

 in the modern sense, — horsemen engaging in close combat, and charging 

 their opponents with all possible speed by means of javelin, spear, 

 lance, or sabre. The Cyropadia, of course, is nothing more than an 

 historical romance, and the attribution to the elder Cyrus of the new 

 tactical principle is plainly an anachronism ; it must, however, have been 

 in full operation among the Persians in Xenophon's time. It cannot 

 have existed under Cyrus, as we do not find it in the army of Xerxes 

 invading Greece. 



The mail-clad warriors of the Persians and related nations became 

 known in the antique world under the name cataphracti (KardippaKTOL) 

 or catafractarii, derived from cataphracta, the designation of their de- 

 fensive armor. Sarmatians clad with such armor are represented on the 

 Column of Trajan; actual fragments of armor of this sort discovered in 

 graves of southern Russia, and, further, the notices of classical authors, 

 enable us to form some idea of the appearance of these suits of armor. 1 

 They consisted of a foundation of cloth or leather, to which scales or 

 laminae of metal (copper or iron), more rarely of horn or bone, were 

 sewed on in such a manner that the single rows overlapped, each row 

 covering the upper part of the row immediately below. The result, 

 accordingly, was a type of scale armor (<£>o\i5cot6s) , the details in the 

 arrangement of which naturally escape us. It was singularly flexible, 

 provided with sleeves, and enveloping the entire body except that por- 

 tion of the thighs which grips the horse. It was well adapted to the 

 form of the trunk, and permitted the soldier ample freedom of motion. 

 The horses likewise were completely armored with the same kind of 

 scales, though they were frequently caparisoned with leather only 

 (Ammianus, XXIV, 6), 2 as they were handicapped by the weight of the 

 metal. The man had to be lifted on his horse. He was equipped with 

 a long spear, which was supported by a chain attached to the horse's 

 neck, and at the end by a fastening attached to the horse's thigh, so as 



1 Compare the excellent article of E. Saglio in Dictionnaire des antiquites grecs 

 et romains, Vol. I, p. 966. 



2 Operimentis scorteis equorum multitudine omni defensa. 



