08-05-2011, 01:27 PM
Does anyone here have assess to the original Greek version of Libanius' Oration LIX. This Oration describes the buildup to Constantius II Sasanid Persian campaign in the 340's AD, and describes the Battle of Singara. The only translation is in Montserrat and Lieu's work as far as I am aware.
Several points stand out, which have been commented on on another site which I will post here for discussion-
'In the section where Libanius outlines the lead up to war with Shapur II he stresses that the Sassanian king made every effort to first delay the war to allow him time to prepare and also sought to buy as much iron as he could from the Roman Empire in order to equip his forces as well as he could. Libanius stresses this last point and argues that Shapur II was developing new troops and armours for them. He goes on at length in describing the newly-raised ‘iron-clads’ (my phrase!), that is, his elite heavy cavalry (the ‘curassiers’). It is clear from Libanius that Shapur II was keen to learn from and develop new troops and tactics for the coming war. Two things emerge from this: those massive amounts of iron were purchased with a view to arming his newly-raised force and that Shapur II was developing and changing the traditional fighting capabilities of the levied and retained troops under his standards.
The Battle of Singara deserves special mention as Libanius describes in some detail the course of events. Now the battle is open to interpretation of course and I don’t want to dwell too much on that - only on a single passage where Libanius describes the assembling Sassanian forces:
‘Every type of military contingent furnished their (Shapur’s) army: archers, mounted archers, slingers, heavy infantry, cavalry and armed men from every quarter . . .’ (page 188, para 2)
I note here, as with Ammianus, the order of the troops and the delimitation of native troops from allied or mercenary troops. I do not have the original translation but as this is a modern one I am reasonably confident in the accuracy of the translation.
This raises an interesting development in regards this thread. If Sassanian troops in this period were fielding native heavy Phaigan at least in short durations and for specific campaigns/sieges then not only do we have a Roman witness underlining why they were now appearing (due to Shapur II’s innovations), this Roman also underlines that it was specifically Roman iron which contributed to the vast increase in Sassanian armour throughout this period'
Does this indicate that Sharpur was copying the equipment of Constantius' Clibanarii? Was Sharpur raising 'heavy infantry' that were the equivalent of Late Roman legionarii? Why does not Ammianus and Julian mention such troop types? (Although Ammianus does mention Sasanid Cataphract/Clibanarii, they are generally noted as riding horses with textile trappers rather than the horses having metallic armour, and he does make a possible reference to heavy infantry at the siege of Amida).
Several points stand out, which have been commented on on another site which I will post here for discussion-
'In the section where Libanius outlines the lead up to war with Shapur II he stresses that the Sassanian king made every effort to first delay the war to allow him time to prepare and also sought to buy as much iron as he could from the Roman Empire in order to equip his forces as well as he could. Libanius stresses this last point and argues that Shapur II was developing new troops and armours for them. He goes on at length in describing the newly-raised ‘iron-clads’ (my phrase!), that is, his elite heavy cavalry (the ‘curassiers’). It is clear from Libanius that Shapur II was keen to learn from and develop new troops and tactics for the coming war. Two things emerge from this: those massive amounts of iron were purchased with a view to arming his newly-raised force and that Shapur II was developing and changing the traditional fighting capabilities of the levied and retained troops under his standards.
The Battle of Singara deserves special mention as Libanius describes in some detail the course of events. Now the battle is open to interpretation of course and I don’t want to dwell too much on that - only on a single passage where Libanius describes the assembling Sassanian forces:
‘Every type of military contingent furnished their (Shapur’s) army: archers, mounted archers, slingers, heavy infantry, cavalry and armed men from every quarter . . .’ (page 188, para 2)
I note here, as with Ammianus, the order of the troops and the delimitation of native troops from allied or mercenary troops. I do not have the original translation but as this is a modern one I am reasonably confident in the accuracy of the translation.
This raises an interesting development in regards this thread. If Sassanian troops in this period were fielding native heavy Phaigan at least in short durations and for specific campaigns/sieges then not only do we have a Roman witness underlining why they were now appearing (due to Shapur II’s innovations), this Roman also underlines that it was specifically Roman iron which contributed to the vast increase in Sassanian armour throughout this period'
Does this indicate that Sharpur was copying the equipment of Constantius' Clibanarii? Was Sharpur raising 'heavy infantry' that were the equivalent of Late Roman legionarii? Why does not Ammianus and Julian mention such troop types? (Although Ammianus does mention Sasanid Cataphract/Clibanarii, they are generally noted as riding horses with textile trappers rather than the horses having metallic armour, and he does make a possible reference to heavy infantry at the siege of Amida).
Adrian Coombs-Hoar
hock:
