The First Chinese Cataphracts: 3世纪中国始重骑兵
Art by 松石郎
Music: Rising Fire
Horsemen's armor became significantly heavier in the Three Kingdoms period and the 3 centuries of disunity that followed. This included the 3 Kingdoms period, Jin, 16 Kingdoms, and the Northern and Southern dynasties period. Iron faulds also began to appear in large quantities.
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Most of the warhorse was covered in heavy armor also appeared during this period.
Iron Horses: The Jin (265–420) would see some of the first true heavy cavalries in China. The development of heavy cavalry in China corresponded with the invention of double stirrups. To this day, some of the earliest heavy horse armor were dated to the Jin dynasty.
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Comments
Also, if stirrups were the impetus for the development of heavy cavalry, what was cavalry like before stirrups? The Companion Cavalry of Alexander, the cavalry of the State of Zhao during the Warring States, etc. Were they unimportant to the outcome of battles maybe? is that why the Romans neglected their cavalry? and was it true cavalry, or just a sort of dragoon force where soldiers rode a horse to various parts of the battlefield and then got off and fought as infantry??
It's just that before Stirrup, stability upon the horse is dangerous and a head long charge with a lance might knock you from your horse. Instead rider's legs have to lock and hug the hose's torso as they charged. Stirrups straps them into the horse itself, and later high heels were invented to further lock the rider into the seat
I can't say for the Roman Empire, I know the general academic's stance is they they neglected their cavalry. but since I'm not deeply read on the topic I'll refrain from comment. Though tangentially I am reading more about Claudius Gothicus and Diocletian's reforms of the cavalry arm. Diocletian did massive amount of reforms and they made quite a difference. From an organizational perspective looks like the Romans did care about their cavalry, a lot. Cavalry had quite a lot of impact during the war of the Tetrarchy, and they were both useful against the 2 main threats to the empire in mid and late empire. That of the Persians (Eran) and Migrating Germanic peoples.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation
"The practice of cranial deformation was brought to Bactria and Sogdiana by the Yuezhi, a tribe that created the Kushan Empire. Men with such skulls are depicted in various surviving sculptures and friezes of that time, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan"
Starting from the late antiquity we see the chinese-influenced military's dispersal across eurasia with the huns, a big family: Kidarites, Hephthalites, Alchon Huns, Xionites, Huna people etc..... stirrups, ring pommel swords (called sarmatian swords in the Roman empire), traction trebuchet and lamellar resembling han chinese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamellar_helmet
"Lamellar helmets were adopted by the Sasanian Empire when they took control of former Hephthalite territory"
Avar or lombard warrior of Europe:
https://previews.agefotostock.com/previewimage/medibigoff/22e7e435eee10109d02f29a00f750d76/dae-vc000540.jpg
Chinese:
http://imgur.com/gallery/ETNFlX6
http://imgur.com/gallery/yaFBBuk
Korean but related:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Korea-Gaya_Warrior.jpg
It would be more logical the hunnic threat (Hephthalite–Sasanian Wars) exposed persians to stirrups, even a 'great wall of Iran' was built Great Wall of Gorgan in their defense...
Here are some articles:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://arkeotopia.org/images/documents/recherche/ArkeoLog65_GonthierE.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwif_9Cnv4fvAhXUGbkGHXJWBtYQFjAKegQIDxAC&usg=AOvVaw2RWyrERgj1Qu2qO2BmQLPt
https://www.academia.edu/12533551/Kiss_P_Attila_Huns_Germans_Byzantines_The_origins_of_the_narrow_bladed_long_seaxes_Acta_Archaeologica_Carpathica_49_2014_131_164
https://www.academia.edu/4064219/Chinese_and_East_Asian_Elements_in_Sarmatian_Culture_of_the_North_Pontic_Region
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Steven
There were horse armor made of very large lamellar plates for horses as early as the Qin Dynasty (or earlier),
Well- the chariotry of the Spring and Autumn/ Warring States period did have bardings too, but its not quite cataphract level. Can you point me to the examples you yourself was referring to?
Oh wow, interesting, would love to read more about it if you have the sources.
This date would place the deployment in the Warring States period, and right during the period of Contention between Qi and Qin (this was when Qin rose to an unstoppable level under Qin Shihuang's grandfather.) It was also around this broad timeframe that Zhao became expert cavalrymen by imitating the steppe cavalry.