joust:Knight vs Persian Cavalry

What is the objective? Break your lance, hit the opponent of their horse..?

The Knight could easily knock the Persian off, but his lance looks rather 'metally' and would be really hard to break!

The Knight is definitely more heavily armoured, but the horse doesn't look like it can seen anything...then again the Persian's armour would probably be less protective than the Knight's.

If it comes down to the two of them suddenly put into a jousting arena, my bet is on the Knight...I'm not aware of jousting contests held by Persian cavalry (could be wrong...).

Depends on the environment, weather, etc. But I will go for knights.

I thought the cataphract and the knight were from diffrent eras.

It's not a very good depiction of the knight either. The lance is made out of metal and tucked underneath the wrong arm. It seems like his wearing a barbutte style of helm which isn't a very good idea when your on horseback and the horse armour just lloks awful. Might this have been a better picture? (Barring the lack of lance)

I don't think you can compare medieval knights 1000-1500AD with cataphracts 400-700AD.The cataphracts might have been heavy armourded but it was another kind of metal.The Maximilian or Gothic armours for example were made from steel in far better conditions than the cataphract's armour.And the lance was also very different.There were new techniques of making lances in 15th century that made them very long and yet light,while cataphract's lance was a litle more than a long spear.Something i haven't heard about is if there were tournaments in Persia like those in Europe.If there were a very,very good cataphract might defeat a knight,otherwise i don't think it was possible.After all,the knights were trained in such tournaments to do exactly that and with all the equipment i believe he would defeat the cataphract.

Originally posted by Jagiello I don't think you can compare medieval knights 1000-1500AD with cataphracts 400-700AD.The cataphracts might have been heavy armourded but it was another kind of metal.The Maximilian or Gothic armours for example were made from steel in far better conditions than the cataphract's armour.

Edited by white knight - 23-Aug-2007 at 07:49

Knights of the 12th century (first crusades) had lighter armour than Sassanid cavalry all they had in fact was chainmail.  Persian armour was not just scale but also layered plate, similar to Roman armour using strong folded steel - if Roman and Islamic (steel) sources themselves are to be believed.