Roman Heavy Cavalry Fighting Techniques

[Robert Vermaat]

I daresay that you both see the contus used from horseback at full speed. I have a different picture in mind. The contus was a long weapon, presumably to outreach an opponent. Using such a long weapon head-on or at high speed would indeed mean it would be used very shortly, because it would either snap or (stuck in anything) be lost from the rider's graps. However, I doubt that it would be used with that in mind. An armoured cavalryman would be armoured to withstand stuff thrown at him, and would therefore be designed to spend some time in such a hostile environment.
Therefore, I think that a contus was used to stab an opponent, either at low speed, or perhaps even stationary.

If you find that a strange concept, think of the armoured cavalryman as a weapons platform. they also carried maces for very close quarters, and a bow for a larger distance. Now I can see light horse-archers galloping furiously to and fro enemy lines, peppering them with arrows at high speed 9to protect them). But I can't see heavy cavalry doing that.

And another picture, from Medieval Romano-Byzantine warfare. Can't remember which emperor it was, but he was surrounded by Norman cavalry, but escaped unscathed due to his heavy armour. I think of the Late Roman heavy cavalry in the same way, and I think they could use the contus with care, as a precision weapon, at low speed.