Editing Cataphract (section)

==Spread to Central Asia and the Near East==
[[File:北燕馬鎧 01.png|thumb|Chanfron, [[Northern Yan]]]]
The evolution of the heavily armored horseman was not isolated to one focal point during a specific era (such as the [[Iranian plateau]]), but rather developed simultaneously in different parts of [[Central Asia]] (especially among the peoples inhabiting the [[Silk Road]]) as well as within [[Greater Iran]]. [[Assyrian Empire|Assyria]] and the [[Khwarezm]] region were also significant to the development of cataphract-like cavalry during the 1st millennium BC. Reliefs discovered in the ancient ruins of [[Nimrud]] (the ancient Assyrian city founded by king [[Shalmaneser I]] during the 13th century BC) are the earliest known depictions of riders wearing [[Plated mail|plated-mail shirts]] composed of metal scales, presumably deployed to provide the Assyrians with a tactical advantage over the unprotected [[Mounted archery|mounted archers]] of their nomadic enemies, primarily the [[Aramaeans]], [[Mushki]], [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|North Arabian tribes]] and the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Babylonians]]. The [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (745–727 BC) period, under which the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] was formed and reached its military peak, is believed to have been the first context within which the Assyrian kingdom formed crude regiments of cataphract-like cavalry. Even when armed only with [[Pike (weapon)|pikes]], these early horsemen were effective mounted cavalrymen, but when provided with bows under [[Sennacherib]] (705–681 BC), they eventually became capable both of long-range and hand-to-hand combat, mirroring the development of dual-purpose cataphract archers by the Parthian Empire during the 1st century BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Eadie|1967|pp=161f.}}</ref>

Archaeological excavations also indicate that, by the 6th century BC, similar experimentation had taken place among the [[Ancient Iranian peoples#List|Iranian peoples]] inhabiting the [[Khwarezm]] region and [[Aral Sea]] basin, such as the [[Massagetae]], [[Dahae]] and Saka. While the offensive weapons of these prototype cataphracts were identical to those of the Assyrians, they differed in that not only the rider but also the head and flanks of the horse were protected by armor. Whether this development was influenced by the Assyrians, as Rubin postulates,<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|1955|p=266}}</ref> or perhaps the Achaemenid Empire, or whether they occurred spontaneously and entirely unrelated to the advances in heavily armored cavalry made in the Ancient Near East, cannot be discerned by the archaeological records left by these mounted nomads.<ref>{{harvnb|Eadie|1967|p=162}}</ref>

The further evolution of these early forms of heavy cavalry in Western Eurasia is not entirely clear. Heavily armored riders on large horses appear in 4th century BC frescoes in the northern [[Black Sea]] region, notably at a time when the Scythians, who relied on light horse archers, were superseded by the Sarmatians.<ref>{{harvnb|Rubin|1955|pp=269–270}}</ref> By the 3rd century BC, light cavalry units were used in most eastern armies, but still only "relatively few states in the East or West attempted to imitate the Assyrian and Chorasmian experiments with mailed cavalry".<ref>{{harvnb|Eadie|1967|p=163}}</ref>