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Late Roman Cavalry System

Type Object Region Roman Empire Time c. 200–500

Cavalry-centered formations and tactics that took shape in the Roman army of the third to fifth centuries, including cataphracts, horse archers, jave…

Timeline

  1. c. 200–284Roman Empire · Roman EmpireAmid third-century civil wars and external pressures, the imperial army expanded mobile cavalry forces and introduced eastern cataphracts and horse archers to counter the shock tactics of Sasanian Persia and the Germanic peoples.
  2. c. 284–400Miletus · Asia MinorDiocletian and Constantine divided the army into frontier troops and mobile field armies, with cavalry at the core of the latter, organized into specialized arms such as cataphractarii, clibanarii, and equites sagittarii.
  3. c. 400–500Constantinople · ConstantinopleAfter the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Byzantine army inherited and developed the late cavalry system, combining heavy shock cavalry and horse archers with infantry to form the core military force of eastern Mediterranean defense in the fifth century.

Sources