11-19-2014, 12:51 PM
I'm having trouble following. In essence, laymen used both terms interchangeably to refer to heavy cavalry in general, but specific military texts used the two terms to distinguish between native heavy cavalry and foreign heavy cavalry. So cataphractus refers to foreign troops and clibanarius refers to Roman troops but they are both equipped with very similar gear.
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books