When Were Cataphract Invented?

The Greeks first encountered cataphracts during the Greco-Persian Wars of the 5th century BC with the Achaemenid Empire.

When was cavalry first used?

WHAT IS CAVALRY? By 1400 B.C., the use of smelted iron to make weapons gave the infantry supremacy. Tribes of nomads in Asia were the first to use Cavalry.

Did Cataphracts use shields?

Equipment and tactics varied, but cataphracts generally wore heavy armor of scale armour, mail, lamellar armour, horn, or thick quilted cloth, carried a shield, sat on an armoured horse, and charged with lances (kontos) in a tight knee-to-knee formation.