Roman Heavy Cavalry Fighting Techniques

[Robert Vermaat]

Pliny (It was Pliny who chronicled Carrhae, right?) writes of the Parthian Cataphracts impaling up to two men at the same time in places and hitting the roman legionaries so hard that the legionaries were pressed together so tightly they couldn't raise their arms something that could only have been done at a gallop. It also shows that horses can be trained to charge head on into solid infantry.

We agree on the notion that cavalry *could* charge into infantry formations head-on (but it was not wise and surely costly), but I disagree that this source shows that it did in this case. The cavalry could ride into the infantry at slow but sure speed, and push against it like another infantry formation would have done. The pressure of the horses would have had the same result (as did the Carthaginian infantry at Cannae or the Gothic infantry at Adrianople. No need to see a charge here.

I think that right before the impact the clibanarius would rise in the saddle and lean forward just a little and then come down and slam his forward into the target thus combining his weight and strength with the speed and weight of his horse (The horse after all is the one that does most of the work) this would agree with the depictions of the two-handed lance technique we see depicted in contemporary art.

How would a clibanarius rise in the saddle without the use of stirrups? The saddle was the only means to provide stability, and even IF a rider could rise in the saddle, the shock of the impact would surely throw him from his steed!