Osprey Men-at-Arms 175 : Rome's Enemies (3) : Parthians and Sassanid Persians

The Parthians were a warrior people. Though possessing no regular army they were superb horsemen and archers, and in time of war the nobility provided heavily armoured knights mounted on weight-carrying chargers. The mass of lesser nobles and their retainers were traditional horse-archers, mounted on tough steppe ponies and armed with the reflex bow. The Parthian army usually took the field with its heavy assault cavalry protected by fast, light, hit-and-run mounted bowmen. Large number of clibanarii might be accompanied by equal numbers of horse-archers; or relatively few heavy troopers might appear with masses of horse-archers. Horse-archers were almost impossible to destroy; however, they could be dispersed by good light cavalry, but these might in turn be open to eventual counterattack. At Carrhae, it is believed that 20,000 Roman troops out of a force of about 36,000 died at the hands of the Parthians. In the third of four books covering Rome's enemies, Peter Wilcox examines the armies and campaigns of the Parthians and Sassanid Persians, accompanied by illustrations throughout, including eight full page colour plates by Angus McBride.

Contents

• Chronology
• Introduction
• The Parthians
• Parthian Campaigns
• Sassanid Persia
• Sassanian Campaigns
• The Plates