[Teaser] Sassanid Horse Archers

Here's a snippet of the script and preview image for our upcoming documentary, Units of History: Sassanid Horse Archers. Enjoy!

Intro

The horse archers of the east were known far and wide as masters of their craft whose coming struck fear into the hearts of their foes. Yet while western sources can certainly tell us what it was like to be on the receiving end of such attacks, they prove far less capable of providing details about the faceless hordes which assailed them from a distance. In this series, it will be our goal to bring life to the rich history of these eastern warriors. Today, let us ride with the Sassanid Horse Archers.

Origins

The Sassanid Horse Archers were the inheritors of a long tradition that stretched back millennia to the first Indo-European settlers who arrived in the Iranian plateau. It is in these early years that people of the region began to develop independent traditions of archery and horsemanship which would eventually merge. Soon, an evolutionary arms race was underway among the various powers which wrestled for control of the region. This was further accelerated by frequent competition with steppe forces which were always on the bleeding edge of horse archery. Thus it only took a few centuries before a few scattered soldiers were transformed into units, regiments, and armies. These would feature prominently in the militaries of the various empires which rose and fell across the east with each incarnation of the horse archer leaving its mark on those which followed. Unfortunately a comprehensive study of this topic will be outside the scope of our episode. We will therefore have to skip over the contributions of countless generations and be satisfied with discussing the passing of the baton which occurred during the fall of the Parthians and the Rise of the Sassanids.

The former had been established in 247 BC when King Arsaces (Arashk/arašk in Persian ) the First of the eastern Iranian tribe known as the Parni, had rebelled against the Seleucids. In time his dynasty would expand across the land, rising to become heirs of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. As such they were able to wield considerable military forces which proved capable of holding their own against the Romans. However, unlike their predecessors, the Parthian system of rule was far more decentralised than that of the Achaemenids. Thus the four and a half centuries of their rule was often subject to crippling bouts of internal unrest. It was during one of these episodes, in the early 3rd century AD, that Ardashir the 1st came to control the province of Pars from which he staged a revolt and then a conquest of the civil war stricken Parthians. Doing so was not just a feat of great military achievement but also of diplomacy as the elements of the former Parthian Empire were now reforged into the new Sassanid Empire.

While the descendants of Ardashir would reign as the Shahanshah, or king of kings, the house of Sasan would rely to a great degree on the support of the other powerful clans of the realm. Chief among these were the 7 Great Parthian Houses which had formed the bedrock of the prior administration. Keeping them in line was one of the great tensions of Sasanian history. This appears to have been done by way of a strong central authority and more robust means of domestic control. One of the most evident manifestations of this power was the new Sassanid army, known as the spah.

As with the earlier Parthians, its core was made up of an elite cavalry force which was known as the Savaran. Drawn largely from the upper classes, its members fought both in close quarters and at range. This body was in turn supported by regional forces, mercenaries, and allies. Unlike the Parthians, these featured a greater diversity of troop types with a notably higher proportion of infantry. A thorough exploration of the Spah’s various branches will have to be covered in another video. For now let us look specifically at the Sassanid Horse archers.

These hailed from a wide variety of locations, and consequently were a rather diverse force. For the sake of simplicity, such horse archers can generally be divided into two broad groups based on their origins. The first group consisted of those recruited from the provinces of the historical and cultural Iranian realm known as the Eirean while the second group were those which came from beyond this region, or the An-Eirean.

The core of the Eirean included the regions of Pars, Media, and Parthia whose militarised noble families provided much of the manpower of the elite mounted Savaran. Surrounding these were other important regions which tended to manifest as auxiliaries. They included the important warrior tribes of Gelan, Gurgan, the Iranian plateau, and Saka-istanis. Yet further afield would be the peoples of the frontier who served as auxiliaries or mercenaries. The Caucasus for instance were a prominent recruitment centre for horse archers, with the Khazars, Alans, Svants, Sabirs and Sunitae providing many warriors. Sassanid kings also worked hard to secure the support of Central Asian forces such as the Kushans and various Hsiang-nou related peoples like the Hephthalites, Chionites and Turkic tribesmen. It was an eclectic group but all were united by a common way of life defined by a reverence of the bow and saddle.

Let us now take a look at how they might be equipped for war.