The prestigious Spanish military journal “Desperta Ferro Antigua y Medieval” has published an article by Kaveh Farrokh on the cavalry forces of the Achaemenids at the time of the Achaemenid-Persian Wars with ancient Greece. For more information on this article, click the link below in Academia.edu:
The article examines the development of Achaemenid (or Teispid-Achaemenid) cavalry from its early stages during the reign of Cyrus II (r.559-530 BCE) The Great and into the time of the Greek Wars, during the reigns of Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE) and his successor, Xerxes I (r.486-465 BCE).
For more on the topic of ancient cavalry warfare see:
- Farrokh, K., Maksymiuk, K., & Skupniewiez, P. (2023). Early Iranian riders and cavalry. HISTORIA I ŚWIAT: ACTA MILITARIA IRANICA, 12, pp.153-166.
- Farrokh, K. (2023). Military Interactions between the Neo-Assyrian Army and Ancient Iranian Peoples: Implications for the Development of Cavalry Warfare. In D. Toichkin (ed.), History of Antique Arms – Researches 2020: Collection of Scientific Papers, Kyiv, Ukraine: Stylos, pp.140-158.
A late Achaemenid armored heavy cavalryman (Source: Realm of History). Note the wing-like “Ranban” (leg/thigh protector).