06-18-2014, 03:48 PM
Quote:.............
-How powerful is the Parthian bow?.............................
-What kind of arrows did the Parthians use?
-Was Roman chainmail higher quality and better than Medieval mail?(Roman chainmail is heavier and smaller links)
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I would like to re-state the hint about Parthian cataphract armour and why we have the two main types of Parthian combatant...
The Parthian cataphract armour (without any shield at all) was almost definitely proof against the Parthian arrow - hence why the nobles wore it and the peasants didn't!
Personally, just like Xenophon found, the Parthians were so damn effective on their home ground, where casualties from incoming bowfire are caused to any actually exposed portions (particularly from flanks and rear. If you deal with it, just as the Romans did, with testudo then you don't move - and not moving in the desert is death from heat. If you send out troops to run them off - then they just get taken out quicker as you cannot catch the fleet Parthian horse archer.
I do think that comparing to the Mongol bows much later, let alone medieval, is counter productive. Whatever we might think, the average soldier was not (in the main armies of the time) armed with a bow - and hence it probably wasn't all that effective. Armour piercing for everyone didn't happen until the crossbow and musket - all archers (not the Steppe Horse Cultures who used from a young age) were never present in large numbers and were always something 'special' - there's a reason for that!
