Roman Cavalry

[fasta]

Are you sure about that Adam.What about the finds? :wink:

[PhilusEstilius]

Adam. I think that we have to be carefull in our interpretation of some figures in ancient monuments, there are cases where the sculpture at times does not exactly show what we know should be there. If you look again at the link you have shown the horses do have harness straps around the rump and shoulders which would only be fitted to a saddle in Roman style.

[PhilusEstilius]

I have just been looking at the picture of those cavalrymen and it would appear that the rider at the rear has his right hand resting on the rear saddle horn, why the saddles can't be seen is that the four horns tend to bend in against the rider as they are meant to do and keep him seated firmly.

[philsidnell]

To answer the original question - nobody can say for sure whether the Roman cavalry used semi-rigid saddles or not prior to the first century BC when the first evidence for the horned saddle appears. Most likely, prior to the horned saddle (whenever that actually appeared) they were using a simple pad saddle or saddle blanket. They were probably in step with developments in the wider Meditteranean world and we know from Xenophon that something a little more than a simple blanket was probably available in the mid-4th century BC (he talks of using a blanket shaped for the comfort of the horse and the security of the rider, perhaps a blanket with quilted sections?) and Thracian tombpaintings from the late 4th century show a saddle with slightly raised pommel and cantle.

Yes, the Romans did utilize Numidian allies and auxiliaries from the later stages of the 2nd Punic War onwards, who the sources record as riding bareback with no more than a rope around the horse's neck for harness.

In the Imperial period, I imagine the horned saddle quickly became pretty much standard issue for Roman troops, though local allies would be using whatever their local tradition and fashions dictated.

[marvises]

i watched a show on the history channel and it was about the roman legions on the battle field and they said the Calvary did use saddles.


here is an image i found