The warfare tactics of the Parthian can be said to revolutionary at first, but then its becomes outdated after having way too many wars with Rome. The direct influences of the Scythian tribes could be seen when Parthians used to shoot from their backs as they galloped on their horses. They were indeed very proud people, and their army was probably a mixture of elites/citizens/levies. One thing we must not forget is the fact that Parthia is and is only a cavalry faction. The Sassinds can be seen as the '' developer'' of heavy infantry as they realized to that to combat the Roman threat, they would need forces capable of defeating them. Parthia's traditional tactics of having mostly cavalry in their armies by that time had gone defunct. Back to the point however, The Parthian army was composed of elephants, archers, cavarly, horse archers, skirmishers that were the direct influences of Scythian tribes.
Although this is a picture from the Sassinans, this is the exact build when considering the Parthian army. Your average levy spearmen was either a citizen trying to either gain some fame or glory, or probably just an poor man wanting to make some money to rid of himself of debt. The Syrian foot archers and Kurdish Javelinmen would have appeared into the Parthian army. Parthia as the time was a mixture of Persian influences still retaining its nomadic influences. Unlike the pink Parthians of Rome 1..( epic nostalgia) however, they were used in mostly harrasing, raiding, and attacking at the required times. The Parthians were built on a tradition of raiding and harrasing, as their army is suited to being like this: Shower the enemy with arrows, then storm in with the cavalry. Pretty much like the Huns, the Mongols and other factions. Parthia wasn't strictly known for its infantry and there is evidence of an strong armoured Parthian soldiers, but they would have been either royal bodyguards or moves made by the Parthians to combat the Roman infantry which never went that far. And if in terms of infantry men, they were mostly Takabara spearmen, and they were like the upgrade from Levy spearmen, consisting of shields and arrows, they were expensive but a far more certainly better force than your average levy spearmen:
Horse Archers:
The horse archers of Parthia was something like you'd seen the poorer version of men on horses with no archers. On the contrary however, they were poorer nobles that played a significant role in the Parthian army. At the battle of Carrhae, they were reported to be advancing and harassing the Roman legions and were expert shots as it was also reported that despite the Romans raising their shields, the arrows managed to find their targets and pierce their armour. In this battle the famous tactic called the Parthian shot was used. To understand this principle consider this: A bunch of horse archers come to your legion, you raise your shields and the Parthians shoot. Some die, some of your comrades die, but you survive. The Parthians retreat on a full gallop and they turn their bodies to shoot back. In this case, we must consider the fact that these horse archers were extremely effective using the compound bow, and to turn your body back while shooting is almost impossible! You would need a flexible body for this, and you can also compare this to the Samurai of Japan that also practiced a similar tradition shooting back from the horses.
As you can see here...the shot being reinvented!
The Parthian shot also spread to the catrapharcts of the Parthians and the Sassainins as shown here, even though they wore more armour, and despite being expert shots, they would have not been as effective as compared to their lighter counterparts:
One must also note that the main crux of the Parthian army lay in its cavalry. This I think CA got right to a certain extent, but not so much. Too many people consider the Parthians as an infantry faction when it wasn't. And no the Parthian cavalry was not all grey covered. In fact, they had colored armored scale horses, and they wore different types of armor, but mostly they were covered up.
As we can see here:
So we can see the Parthians had huge variation within their cavalry. Their force and terror is described in the book called the Lost Ten tribes of Isarel. The strong elites of the Parthian army probably commanded some of the best regiments in the army. The rich nobles were definitely a factor of this and I shall use Sebdiee's pictures to illustrate:
The Royal cataphracts consisted the core of the backbone of the Parthian cavarly. Composed of nobles, princes, rich nobles, sergants and some of the wealthiest people in the land, they would be considered the bodyguards for the Parthian General, or more than likely a force which would be used to parade around, or otherwise used in battles to be a tremendous force to be used. These would be the very late force used when the Parthian army progressed.
In most cases, the Sassinans also had golden cavarly in their ranks. Most of these men would have been either Parthian heroes either being promoted, and were certainly composed of veterans. These weren't your average man on a horse given some fancy spears/armor. These were tough armoured cavarlymen ready to shove their spears into your throats if you messed with them.
Even though the Parthians don't have unique banners, as you can see from this Sassian pic here, the Parthians would have had very unique banners styles and some of them could have come in colorful varieties.
Mercenaies:
Adding to this, like the Carthaginians, the Parthians benefited from a wide range of mercanies at their disposal. It would not be suprising to find the fact that Parthian armies would have had mercenaries serving in the army. Ranging from Arabs, Iranians, Dahae, Persians and Jews, Scythians, truly the Parthians definitely had a wide access to this beneficial prospect. In most battles against the Romans, there would have been these types of units serving in the Parthian army. It should be noted that they were very cheap to recruit.
The Parthian and Roman armies, both headed by their emperors, clashed in what must have been one of the fiercest (and bloodiest) battles ever fought in the ancient world. What occurred was not merely a battle, but the death struggle of two mighty empires. Citing the classical writers, Rawlinson states:
"The battle of Nisibis ... was the fiercest and best contested
which was ever fought between the rival powers. It lasted ...
three days. The army of Artabanus was numerous and
well-appointed: like almost every Parthian force, it was strong
in cavalry and archers; and it had ... a novel addition of ...
soldiers, clad in complete armour, and carrying long spears or
lances, who were mounted on camels ... The Romans suffered
greatly from the bows of the horse-archers, and from the lances
of the corps mounted on camels; and ... as they retired, they
strewed the ground with spiked balls and other contrivances for
injuring the feet of animals." 85
Ctesiphon, the "western capital" known to the Romans, was
nowhere near the actual homeland of the Parthians. It is possible
that Ctesiphon was an administrative center for governing their
western provinces, but that other "capitals" existed eastward in
their empire. The Scythian nature of the Parthians is well-known,
and Scythian reverence for the dead was an historic trait. When
Darius attacked the Scythians many centuries earlier near the
Black Sea, he was warned that retribution would be most dire if
he desecrated Scythian cemeteries. 84 Given the historic
relationship between Parthia and the Sacae tribes of Scythia, it
is possible that Scythian tribes furnished troops for this battle
as well.
The invading Romans met the Parthian defenders at the battle
of Carrhae in 53 B.C. (near the modern border of Syria and
Turkey). The Romans suffered one of the worst defeats in the
history of the Roman Empire; half the 40,000 man army perished, a
quarter fled, and 10,000 Romans were captured. Crassus, a member
of the triumvirate ruling the Roman Empire, was slain. Parthia's
treatment of the captured Romans was unusually magnanimous,
especially considering that the Romans were the aggressors. The
10,000 captured Romans were resettled east of the Caspian Sea,
given wives, and later even served as Parthian soldiers. 44
Rawlinson comments that the Parthians:
"... acquired by their use of the bow a fame like that [of] the
English archers ... at Crecy and Agincourt. They forced the
arrogant Romans to ... allow that there was at least one nation
in the world which could meet them on equal terms ... They
henceforth obtained recognition from the Graeco-Roman writers ...
as the second Power in the world." 45
Richard Frye's "Heritage of Persia" also notes that, after
the battle of Carrhae: "the world was divided between Rome and
Parthia according to Greek and Latin authors." 46
This was no wild
mob from the steppes, but a disciplined and prepared military
force. The Parthians maintained both a heavy cavalry and a light
cavalry. The light cavalry was composed of fleet horses with
riders armed with bows and arrows. These horsemen could rain down
upon an enemy a fairly continuous barrage of arrows as they could
ride in shifts, with each troop resupplying itself from
camel-borne arrow carriers when their supply became exhausted in
battle. 41
The heavy cavalry must have been truly frightening to the
Roman footsoldier. Rawlinson describes them in the following
manner:
"The strong horses selected for this service were clad almost
wholly in mail. Their head, neck, chest, even their sides and
flanks, were protected by scale-armour of brass or iron ... Their
riders had cuirasses and cuisses [breastplates and leg armor] of
the same materials, and helmets of burnished iron. For an
offensive weapon they carried a long ... spear or pike. They
formed a serried line in battle, bearing down with great weight
on the enemy whom they charged, and standing firm as an iron wall
against the charges that were made against them." 42
In other words, the Romans were opposed by a superior
phalanx of armored Parthian cavalry. With their armored mounts,
body armor, and long spears, the Parthian heavy cavalry must have
looked like mounted European Lancers from the middle ages! Again
we see another parallel between the ancient Parthians and the
Europeans of the feudal period. The Parthian heavy cavalry sounds
like a huge formation of feudal knights armed for combat instead
of jousts. Indeed, the Encyclopaedia Britannica openly called the
Parthian heavy cavalry "knights."
The Parthian and Roman armies, both headed by their
emperors, clashed in what must have been one of the fiercest (and
bloodiest) battles ever fought in the ancient world. What
occurred was not merely a battle, but the death struggle of two
mighty empires. Citing the classical writers, Rawlinson states:
"The battle of Nisibis ... was the fiercest and best contested
which was ever fought between the rival powers. It lasted ...
three days. The army of Artabanus was numerous and
well-appointed: like almost every Parthian force, it was strong
in cavalry and archers; and it had ... a novel addition of ...
soldiers, clad in complete armour, and carrying long spears or
lances, who were mounted on camels ... The Romans suffered
greatly from the bows of the horse-archers, and from the lances
of the corps mounted on camels; and ... as they retired, they
strewed the ground with spiked balls and other contrivances for
injuring the feet of animals." 85
This kind of fighting went on for three full days. The
armor-clad Parthians must have looked like medieval knights as
they charged the Romans with levelled lances. The Romans,
however, were ingenious in countering these assaults by maiming
the Parthian animals. The killing was awesome. It is recorded
that the bodies of the dead were:
"piled to such a height that the manoeuvres of the troops were
impeded by them, and at last the two contending hosts could
scarcely see one another!" 86
Note also that the Parthian horse itself was a beautiful creature and was used till the medieval ages, as is quoted here:
Strabo called the Parthian the most elegant riding horse in the Roman Empire, he was fast enough to beat Spanish horses that were reputed to be the fastest up until that time, and he was strong enough to be the backbone of the cataphract. In addition to this, the Parthian horse was beautiful. Artwork of him from China shows a proud elegant animal, and when Emperor Justinian introduced them to the Spain during the Visigoth Wars, the Parthian horse became the rootstock for the Andalusian and Lusitano. These horses in turn were ancestors to the American Quarterhorse, Appaloosa and Tigerhorse. The use of Spanish racehorses to improve English racehorses prior to the immortal three would also lead this author to believe that the size and strength of the Thoroughbred comes from his Parthian ancestors, not the small desert breeds the English hold in such high esteem.
[Detail, sarcophagus of the "Triclinium of Maqqai", c. A.D. 229, Palmyra, Syria]
The Crusaders also dispersed Byzantine bred Parthian horses throughout Europe, in particular the Normans who destroyed the imperial stud when they sacked Constantinople. Horses were taken to France and Italy, which used the Parthian horse to create the now extinct Neapolitan breed. The Neapolitan had an enormous influence on the Lippizaner, giving the stallions a stronger build and more masculine appearance. It might also be said that the arts that these beautiful animals perform have their roots in the ancient empires of Persia and Parthia. The Greeks wrote about dressage, but it was the Parthian horse that performed it, and whether you call him Niceaen, Soulun, Heavenly Horse or Parthian horse, the loss of this great breed was a tragedy.
[Annadale's Love Story, a Tiger Horse stallion. Photo by permission, The Tiger Horse Registry]
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