> I don't see any great technological difference between cataphracts
> and even 15th Century knights except possibly stirrups which appear
> at the latest by the 6th Century. The main difference was tactical -
> the Romans used cataphracts as part of a combined arms force whereas
> in western medieval europe knights were regarded as the core of
> the army.
Sassanid Persian armies (contemporaries of the later Roman Empire) were built round a core of cataphract cavalry.
Andrew
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