cataphractarii

‘Call in the Cavalry’ has become a proverb for reverting to damage-control expert assistance when things get out of hand. Yet the quote is embedded in the history of a noble and often elite unit originally formed to provide support to the infantry. Before the tank bulldozed its way into the annals of military history, there was the cavalry; the horse and its rider. Like every modern nation today, ancient kingdoms also had some kind of mobile land support, designed to punch holes through enemy lines, but only a handful of nations had the best trained cavalry, and their reputations withstood the test of time. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"54593","attributes":{"alt":"Warrior of Scythians, second part of VII and VI century BC (CC BY-SA 3.0)","class":"media-image","height":"631","style":"width: 463px