10-20-2008, 08:38 PM
I agree about the elephants. By this time, Romans should have known how to deal with war elephants. As far as the cataphracts are concerned, one possible answer lies in the fact that this was a river crossing battle. If Julian was able to firmly anchor both of his flanks on the river, then the cataphracts would have not had any easy target to attack - there would have been no open Roman flank. They would have been limited to direct frontal attack on formed infantry, which has never been a good option for cavalrymen.
Felix Wang
