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Army of Belisarius
#1
Any good sources concerning the army of Belisarius? I'm mostly interested in the heavy cavalry and horse archers.<br>
Thanks!<br>
Johnny <p></p><i></i>
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#2
Greets,<br>
<br>
I do know that the heavy cavalry were called cataphracts and wore extremely thick armor. They were so heavy they sometimes tramplaed enemy troops and, in one case, allied troops because they had too much momentum. It sounds good to trample soldiers but they often ended up surrounded.<br>
<br>
The Roman dude from Alabama:<br>
<br>
Matt G. <p></p><i></i>
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#3
Procopius. He was on Belisarius' staff. <p>Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert<br>
[url=http://www.fectio.org.uk/" target="top]fectienses seniores[/url]</p><i></i>
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#4
I recommend "Justinian's Wars" by Roy Boss and published by Montvert. Roy covers all of the major campaigns fought by Belisarius and concludes with those of Narses.<br>
<br>
Byzantine cavalry were not called cataphracts but rather kaballarioi from the Latin for horsemen. Latin was still used by the military, although Greek was becoming more common. The secretary of Belisarius, Procopius, wrote his history of the wars in Greek. These are available from Loeb with the Greek and English side-by-side.<br>
<br>
Perry <p></p><i></i>
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#5
There's a new book called "The Age of Hippotoxotai: Art of War in Roman Military Revival and Disaster (491-636)" by Ilkka Syvänne, which may be worth looking into. Oxbow list it -<br>
tinyurl.com/3k6hd or go to www.oxbowbooks.com and search <p></p><i></i>
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#6
Speaking of Narses, I saw a book "Narses: Hammer of the Goths" don't know if it's a good read or not.<br>
<br>
Dave <p>[url=http://www.freewebs.com/davekufner" target="top]www.freewebs.com/davekufner[/url]</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=davekufner>Dave Kufner</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://www.freewebs.com/davekufner/pics/daveicon3.JPG" BORDER=0> at: 3/15/05 11:58 pm<br></i>
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#7
I have read "Narses: Hammer of th Goths". It is a good entry level book on the subject. The lack of battlefield deployment illustrations and some factual errors detract from the whole.<br>
<br>
Perry <p></p><i></i>
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