Warrior [15] Late Roman Cavalryman AD 236-565 Read online

  In battle the equites illyriciani used skirmishing tactics, harassing opponents with javelins then closing in with spear and sword once they were sufficiently weakened. Javelins might have been carried behind the shield, but it was less burdensome to draw them from a ease behind the saddle (A2). Such cases are depicted on a number of gravestones, and may have originated with steppe peoples such as the Sarmatians, who introduced the windsock draco (dragon) standard (A3) that was carried by units of equites illyriciani and later spread throughout the army.

  The soldier's light mail shirt provides a fair degree of protection without hindering his mobility. It may not have been issued to him but could have been picked up as battlefield booty or bought. When engaged in relatively safe tasks, the mail shirt could be rolled up and strapped behind the saddle. Roman mail (A4) was made with alternating rows of riveted and welded rings.

  The soldier is wearing a typical loose-fitting long-sleeved tunic decorated with coloured bands and discs (A5). Such patterns were worn throughout the later Empire, by civilians as well as soldiers. This one is based on one of the many surviving samples from Egypt.

  Although traditional helmet styles continued (A6), the Spangenhelm style, like the simple version worn by the main figure, was probably typical for the men serving in the Danube frontier regions. It too was adopted from the Sarmatians and became increasingly popular over the next few centuries.

  The traditional recruitment system seems to have broken down in the 3th century. Although the recruitment of individuals continued, it became increasingly common for Roman armies to hire whole bands of barbarians in return for money or land to settle. Powerful warlords would recruit their own private armies, and use them to further their own causes or hire them out to the government. These private retainers, or bucellarii, became the mainstay of 5th- and early 6th-century armies. They were exclusively cavalrymen, and could be recruited from the tough frontier areas of the Empire or from outside barbarians. In the 5th century most would have been Germans or Huns; in the 6th century Procopius mentions Armenians, Cilicians, Cappadocians, Pisidians, Isuarians, Thracians, Huns and Persians. The Strategikon recommends that units be formed of a mixture of veterans and recruits, ‘otherwise the older men, if formed by themselves, may be weak, and the younger, inexperienced men may turn out disorganised'.

  We do not know much about shield designs from the 3rd century, hut finds from Dura Europos indicate that mythical scenes were popular. They could well have been individual designs painted on a background of a common unit colour. This conjectural reconstruction shows that the owner was a follower of Mithras, the most popular soldiers' religion until well into the Christian period. (Author's photo)

  In the east, after the fall of the western empire, recruitment again became centralised and seems, surprisingly, to have become entirely voluntary. The Justinian Code makes no reference to hereditary enlistment or conscription. The static units of limitanei (and comitatenses, who had become static by the 6th century) were recruited locally. Men volunteered for these units knowing that they would not serve away from home and could pursue a fairly comfortable career, with opportunities to conduct other business. Volunteers for the field armies- which were quite small by earlier standards, could be found in the mountains of the Balkans and Asia Minor. For example, in AD 549 Germanus went on a recruiting campaign in the Balkans and 'by handing out, without stint, the large sums of money he had received from the emperor, and more from his own pocket, was able in a brief space to collect a surprisingly large army of good fighting men'.

  A selection of Roman spear-heads. Cavalry spears were usually fairly light and could he thrown or kept in the hand for close combat. (National Museum of Scotland)

  Provision of horses

  The individual soldier was only half of what was needed to make a cavalryman: larger numbers of horses than men were required to keep a cavalry unit operating. A Roman cavalry horse has been estimated to have had a useful life expectancy of about three to five years on active service. Animal casualties would probably have been higher than rider casualties, since not only is the horse a larger and easier target, but injuries, whether in combat or on long marches, would have been more likely to make it unusable for further service. A strong remount industry was essential, therefore, to keep mobile the relatively large number of cavalry in the late Roman army.

  A close-up view of the spangenhelm-style helmets worn by the Sarmatians on Trajan's Column. This helmet style spread from the Danube regions throughout the Roman and Germanic world to become the most popular helmet type, (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome)

  Some horses were provided by recruits themselves, and a few others might have been captured in battle, but this would only have accounted for a small fraction of the number required. In the 3rd and early 4th century remounts were collected as a levy on provincials and were drafted into the army in much the same way as a conscript. A law of AD 369, for example, states that a comes (count) had to supply three horses every five years. Before long this levy was commuted into a cash tax. Another law of AD 369 states that persons subject to the tax were to pay 23 solidi per horse and that cash was to be paid rather than horses. From this money the comes stabuli, whose job it was to collect and examine horses for the government, drew a fee of 2 solidi per horse. At the end of the 4th century soldiers were given 7 solidi to buy their mounts, If this was the actual price of a horse, the government must have been making a tidy profit out of the tax.

  Other horses were obtained by breeding, on large stud farms. Perhaps some of the cash obtained by the horse tax went to offset the cost of running them. A good cavalry horse who had been injured or was too old for military service could still have many years producing offspring for the army.

  The Romans' criteria for a suitable horse is not known. Laws from the mid-4th century state that horses shall meet certain requirements as to shape, stature and age', but unfortunately these standards are not specified. There was certainly room for corruption on the part of the comes stabuli and other officials: the temptation to collect taxes in full and then purchase inferior cheaper horses and pocket the difference must have been great. Ammianus Marcellinus, writing in the 4th century, tells us: ‘Constantin, a riding master, who had been sent to Sardinia to inspect cavalry mounts, took the liberty of exchanging a few of them and was stoned to death at Valentinian's command.' Ammianus uses this as an example of Valentinian’s cruelty, implying that low-level corruption was normal, and unofficially accepted.

  A similar close-up of Roman spangenhelms being worn two centuries later by soldiers on the Arch of Galerius. (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome)

  B Cavalry equipment

  The Roman cavalryman's horse was smaller than modem horses: somewhere between 130 cm and 150 cm high. Even horses described by ancient writers as ‘large’, such as Parthian, Sarmatian and Hunnish breeds, rarely exceeded 155 cm, and would be considered of medium size today.

  Although the army on the march would be accompanied by baggage wagons, cavalry would often operate away from the main body. This horse (B1) is loaded up tor the march with everything the cavalry man would need to be self-sufficient. His shield, javelin case, water-bottle, cooking utensils and rations are attached to the saddle, and his cloak is rolled up behind. The need to carry such loads, as well as the weight of an armoured rider, for long distances meant that the ideal mount was not a fast, high-spirited horse but rather a horse with high endurance.

  The cavalryman would be looking for absolute obedience from his mount, since in battle the slightest mistake could cost him his life. To ensure such obedience, some Roman hits, like B2a from Newstead, could be extremely severe. 'The slightest pressure on the reins would drive a plate into the roof of the horse’s mouth, causing intense pain (B2b), Such bits would not be allowed today, but for a soldier whose life depended on keeping his horse under control in the chaos of a battle while his right hand wielded his weapons and his left held the reins and shield, they were probab
ly very necessary. B3 is an example of a softer bit, perhaps used by riders better able to control their mounts. Although the Roman cavalryman rode without stirrups, he did have a well-constructed saddle that allowed him to keep a fairly firm seat even when making energetic upper body movements such as swinging a sword or hurling a javelin. Claims by some writers that cavalry were ineffective prior to the introduction of stirrups have been disproved by modern tests using Roman equipment. B4 shows how the saddle in use at the start of this period was constructed. It was built around a wooden frame, with the four horns rein forced with bronze plates and then padded and covered with leather. The horns held the rider firmly in the saddle as well as being useful for attaching equipment. In the 5th century a new form of wooden frame saddle with quilted padding (B5), probably of Hunnic origin, was gradually adopted, and remained in use beyond the end of this period.

  Roman horses were rarely shod at the start of this period. Damage to the hooves was avoided by keeping off roads. On the march they would usually go cross-country, screening the front, flanks and rear of the column, and those not engaged in such tasks would probably ride on the side of the road rather than on the hard surface. When necessary, temporary horseshoes like the one at B6 could be fitted, then removed when no longer required. Conventional horseshoes were rare, at least prior to the 4th century. B7 shows a hoof-cleaning tool being used.

  TRAINING

  'Constant drill is of the greatest value to the soldier.' says the Strategikon and training in the cavalry seems to have been fairly rigorous throughout this period. While Vegetius complains that training and discipline in the infantry had greatly declined by the 5th century, he implies that in the cavalry it had improved.

  Training a cavalryman had always been more complex than training an infantryman, since in addition to learning basic soldierly skills, a good cavalryman needed to form a real partnership with his mount, which in turn had to he trained as a war horse. The practice of recruiting cavalrymen by promotion from the infantry, in which case the new cavalryman would already be a skilled soldier, or from men who owned a horse, which meant they had riding skills, made sense. What remained was to bring soldierly skills and horsemanship together.

  A close-up of Roman mail, showing its construction of alternating riveted and welded rings. (National Museums of Scotland)

  The new cavalryman had to learn and perfect weapons-handling skills using swords, javelins and light lances while both mounted and dismounted, and from the mid-5th century archery also became a required skill. The Strategikon, for example, tells us that the soldier should 'shoot rapidly mounted on his horse at a run, to the front, the rear, the right and the left'. Learning to mount and dismount quickly (without the aid of stirrups) was also practised. Arrian, in his Tactica, written just before this period, says that skilled cavalrymen would demonstrate 'how a man wearing armour can leap on to his horse when it is running'. A few centuries later Vegetius recommends setting up wooden horses and teaching recruits to 'vault on them at first without arms, afterwards completely armed'. He goes on to say:

  C Individual training (5th—6th century AD)

  While horse archers had always been present in the Roman army, they had been a small minority and were typically lightly equipped skirmishers. During the 5th century, under the influence of the Persians and Huns, the cavalry began to adopt the bow as their primary weapon, so that by the time of Belisarius' campaigns of the 6th century the typical Roman cavalryman had become a horse archer. Unlike earlier horse archers, these soldiers were quite heavily armoured and were capable of fighting hand-to-hand as well as skirmishing, Some of them, probably the better trained bucellarii, could he armed with spears as well as swords and hows. Individual training for such all-round warriors would have been quite intensive. The Strategikon gives us an idea of what the individual cavalryman was expected to do:

  'On horseback at a run he should fire one or two arrows rapidly and put the strung bow in its case, then he should grab the spear which he has been carrying on his back. With the strung bow in its case, he should hold the spear in his hand, then quickly replace it on his back and grab the bow.'

  Such exercises would have required expert horsemanship as well as proficient weapons handling, and could have been expected only of the better units. Lesser trained soldiers probably specialised either as horse archers or spearmen; German foederati would have provided most of the spearmen, We do not know how dual-armed soldiers attached their spears to their backs; there was probably a loop around the middle of the shall that could be hooked over an attachment to a baldric.

  'Such was their attention to this exercise that they were accustomed to mount and dismount on either side indifferently with their drawn swords or shears in their hands. By assiduous practice in the leisure of peace, their cavalry was brought to such perfection of discipline that they mounted their horses in an instant even amidst the confusion of sudden and unexpected alarms.'

  Examples of Roman ring mail, the most common form of body armour for cavalrymen, particularly in the west. (National Museums of Scotland)

  After mastering the basic skills, the cavalryman would need to learn how to jump obstacles, ride over uneven terrain, and to execute circles, turns and fast stops, Vegetius tells us that the cavalry trained on 20-mile marches three rimes a month, practising their evolutions, pursuing, retreating and charging over varied terrain. Similar exercises in varied conditions and terrain are also recommended by the Strategikon:

  'It is essential that the horses become accustomed not only to rapid manoeuvring in open level country, but also over hilly, thick and rough ground and in quick ascending and descending of slopes... The men who spare their horses and neglect drills of this sort are really planning their own defeat. It is also a good idea for the troops to become used to doing this work in hot weather, for nobody really knows what situations may arise.'

  Equipment found in a Roman cavalry fort in Germany (Biriciana). Mail and scale have often been found in the same location, implying a lack of uniformity within units. Note the studs on the sole of the sandal. (Author's photo)

  Once both horse and rider had been trained individually, they had to learn how to operate as part of a larger formation. In the Tactica, Arrian describes numerous complex manoeuvres, carried out by cavalry display teams, which mirrored the requirements of the battlefield and emphasised fluid skirmishing tactics, Arrian stresses the importance of standards in keeping units together while executing these rapid manoeuvres:

  ‘Standards do not merely provide the eye with a pleasurable thrill, but they also serve a useful purpose in keeping apart [the units involved in] the charge and preventing the ranks from tangling with each other. For those who bear them are the men most skilled in doubling back and wheeling, and when they choose to make continually new circles and one direct charge after another, the body of the troops only have to follow their own standards. Thus the succession of various kinds of wheeling, of manifold types of doubling back and of charging in different ways nevertheless causes no confusion in the ranks.'

  Closed helmets like this example are described by Arrian for use in cavalry sports. Restricted vision would have made them less useful in combat, but since some descriptions of cataphracts mention face-masks it is possible that they were used in action. (National Museums of Scotland)

  The skills taught to 6th-century units are similar to those described by Arrian, and indicate that although weaponry had changed, basic unit drill had not. Drills including opening and closing ranks, charging, pursuing, turning and wheeling; as the following passage shows, cavalry manoeuvre remained fast and fluid.

  'If a single bandon [unit of 300 men] is to he drilled by itself, most of the men should be formed in extended order. On the same line with them about ten horsemen should be drawn up in single file on each flank in close order. A few other soldiers, about ten, should take their position on the opposite front to represent the enemy so our men can give the impression of directing their charge against them
. When the advance begins, the troops in extended order separate from their close order support and move out rapidly as though for combat. After riding steadily forward for a mile or two, they then turn back about half that distance, make three or four quick charges to the right and to the left, and then circle back again. After all this they gallop back to their original position in the area between the two close-order groups, and together with them they ride out as if to encounter a pursuing enemy.'

  A cavalry melee between Romans and Persians from the Arch of Galerius. Various wars with Persia dominated the late Roman period. (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome)

  Conditions, pay and rations

  The late Roman soldier was allowed to marry, and his family was usually maintained at public expense. Sons of soldiers (who were obliged to follow their father’s footsteps) were entered on unit strength and drew rations. Although in AD 381 Libanius complained that soldiers were no longer receiving maintenance for their families, laws from the early 5th century detail ration allowances for soldiers' families. In addition to maintaining a family, many soldiers had slaves or servants. The 6th-century Strategikon indicates that the use of servants by the soldiers had become formalised and that they had specific duties: