Persian Cataphract

Persians used cataphracts many times during the Parthian and Sassanid empire they were used even earlier during the times of the Achaemenid Empire against Alexander the great. The persian commanders (Erān Spahbod or Spahbod) most elite guards were cataphracts,cataphracts were a elite order of powerfull nobles.

Weapons

The cataphracts were heavliy armed mostly with thick metal plates made of iron,and leather healmets covered in thin metal.During the times of the Achaemenid persian as xenophon said they were bronze breast plate armour with leather helmets.Many cataphract types were equipped with bows in addition to their lances and heavy armour, to allow them to engage the enemy from afar before charging. Cataphract archery was sometimes used tactically in disciplined formations where half the cataphracts stood facing the enemy as an armoured fence while the other half looped through the line to shoot and then back behind it to reload, increasing their safety against return fire from the enemy.

“All the companies were clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff-joints conformed with those of their limbs; and the forms of human faces were so skilfully fitted to their heads, that since their entire body was covered with metal, arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings opposite the pupil of the eye, or where through the tip of their nose they were able to get a little breath. Of these some who were armed with pikes, stood so motionless that you would have thought them held fast by clamps of bronze.”

references and sources

herodotus histories

Xenophon Persian expedition

*Military of Iran