“Grandson of water on the fast horse”: to the question of the greco-aryan forerunners of byzantine cataphracts

In this article, the author undertook a review of the main stages in the evolution of heavy cavalry in the era of “Hellenism”. The Macedonian, Greek, Persian heavy cavalry was influenced by the nomadic Iranian-speaking world. Tactics, strategy, weapon system, including the horse that existed in squads, Scythian, Massaget, Sarmatian, Parthian kings determined the development of cavalry in the Hellenistic States, particularly in Macedonia, the Seleucid State and in the Bosporan Kingdom. This influence was conserved in the era of the Roman Empire. It affected the organization of the cavalry in the Byzantine army. This reality is a precedent of the existence of the basis for the genesis of Western European chivalry.