George T. Dennis writes in an excellent article entitled The Byzantines in Battle that the Eastern Roman military tradition was an extension of the more robust legacy left to them by the western Roman Empire and that they further developed the use of armored horsemen than what was started prior to the end of the classic western imperial period, around 400 CE.
Rome’s First Experience With Armored Horsemen
The Romans' first exposure to armored horsemen, or cataphracts (from the Greek, kataphraktoi, meaning “armored”) occurred at the Battle of Carrhae in modern Turkey in 53 BCE. The Romans faced a Persian, or Parthian, army that included cataphracts and mounted archers. The armor of these Persian horsemen was largely impervious to the Roman weapons and as a result, the Romans were defeated.
The Persian concept of an armored rider on a horse bearing some measure of armored protection dates back to circa 100 BCE, according to William McNeill in Rise of the West. In order to defeat incursions by lightly armored steppe raiders mounted on swift ponies, the Persians placed armor on horse and rider, effectively scattering the raiding tribesmen.
Evolution of the Mounted Knight
During the latter Roman imperial period, McNeill’s writes that the Roman armies saw a shift in their composition from an infantry heavy to cavalry dominant force due to the introduction of nomadic horseman from the steppes of the southern Danube and Eurasia. This trend then continued into the Byzantine Era.
The evolution then of the mounted armored warrior extends from the Persian Empire to the late Roman and Byzantine periods to the Frankish and Carolignian societies, and thus became an integral part of Western medieval mythology of the mounted knight and the Age of Chivalry.
Employment of Byzantine Cataphracts
Dennis points out that a central theme to Byzantine preparation was training and drill. The Byzantine cavalry spent time with their commander practicing their anticipated maneuvers in mock battle. Manuals were written by certain emperors, such as Maurice (582-602 CE), who wrote the Strategikon which was used and modified for centuries. The training and drills and the existence of written guidance for the employment of forces provided consistency in the development of the mounted arm of the army.
Furthermore, the written sources of military guidance in the Byzantine armies dictated where the cataphracts should be placed for their most effective use. The horsemen bearing heavy iron maces were positioned in the front and center of the cataphract wedge with the mounted archers immediately behind. The armored horsemen bearing swords and lances were assigned to the flank of the cataphract unit. In this way, the men bearing maces would first strike a heavy blow to the front ranks of the enemy, with the archers providing a devastating rain of arrows on deeper ranks, and the lances on the flanks would continue to widen the breach in the enemy lines initially created by the first horsemen swinging the maces.
Byzantine Success Led to Western Knights
Ultimately, the nomadic horsemen of the steppe and other enemies were hard pressed to inflict injury to the cataphracts of the Byzantines. The Byzantine emperors and commanders enjoyed a rich military heritage given by their Latin imperial forebears, which was coupled with the Eastern Roman sense of pragmatism and willingness to adapt their tactics and equipment, such as the cataphracts, to meet the changing nature of the threats to the empire. Western Europeans such as the Franks adopted the Byzantine cataphract methods which later became the basis for the renowned armored knights of medieval fame.
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