Clibanarius
Banned
From Sir John Keegan's The Persian Wars:
Chapter three, Ctesiphon:
532 AD.
The battle dragged on for the next two days, the Persians gained the upper hand when reinforcements arrived, however they quickly lost it when the Roman reinforcements arrived the next day.
The Romans had suffered heavy losses but Khosrau was not much better off and unlike the Romans he had to deal with the the fact the Roman southern force had besieged his Capitol and cut off his supplies.
One wonders what the average Roman and Persian Soldier saw, did, felt and what the battle was like for him.
Archeaology and Contemporary accounts show that the Battle of Ctesiphon was a hot dusty affair for both sides and often the temperature shrank to sub-zero levels at night. Both Persian and Roman Infantry had a hard life, theirs was a hot, heavy, exhausting and often thankless job. And it was not much better for the average Cavalryman of the day, heavy or light.
Besides constant and rigourous training they were under very strict regulations and when they weren't training or in the rare conflict they were hard at work mainting their gear, carrying out punishment duties and improving their camps.
By the time Khosrau retreated, leaving the Romans (although in truth the force was composed of a medley of races and nationalities) in possession of the field, Belisarius' army was exhausted.
Procopius' account describes them "Sinking to their knees where they stood as the last of their energy drained out of them like wine from a burst skin."
However their ordeal was far from over, Belisarius' knew that Khosrau's army was still largely intact and while he'd won the day the decisive victory he'd sought hadn't occured, it was then Belisarius' made of the most debated and risky decisions of his entire career.
He ordered his exhausted troops to break camp and move on to Ctesiphon.
This decision could have easily been the end of Belisarius and his army, he would not have been the first to be swallowed up by the vast the Persian territory and he narrowly avoided two small but fresh Persian Cavarly forces on his way to Ctesiphon and if Khosrau had not been discomfited at his recent loss to Belisarius, driven back the Roman southern force and turned his army around for another battle, who is to stay what might have occurred then?
But as it was Belisarius narrowly avoided annihilation and reached the southern force and Khosrau, cut off from his supplies, shaken by his defeat and the idea of getting caught between two Roman armies continued his retreat and Belisarius' forces made Camp near the Euphrates and Procopius writes that, "An eery silence hung over the Roman as most of the entire slumbered, waking only to attend to their needs and to eat and drink before returning to their beds."
Chapter three, Ctesiphon:
532 AD.
The battle dragged on for the next two days, the Persians gained the upper hand when reinforcements arrived, however they quickly lost it when the Roman reinforcements arrived the next day.
The Romans had suffered heavy losses but Khosrau was not much better off and unlike the Romans he had to deal with the the fact the Roman southern force had besieged his Capitol and cut off his supplies.
One wonders what the average Roman and Persian Soldier saw, did, felt and what the battle was like for him.
Archeaology and Contemporary accounts show that the Battle of Ctesiphon was a hot dusty affair for both sides and often the temperature shrank to sub-zero levels at night. Both Persian and Roman Infantry had a hard life, theirs was a hot, heavy, exhausting and often thankless job. And it was not much better for the average Cavalryman of the day, heavy or light.
Besides constant and rigourous training they were under very strict regulations and when they weren't training or in the rare conflict they were hard at work mainting their gear, carrying out punishment duties and improving their camps.
By the time Khosrau retreated, leaving the Romans (although in truth the force was composed of a medley of races and nationalities) in possession of the field, Belisarius' army was exhausted.
Procopius' account describes them "Sinking to their knees where they stood as the last of their energy drained out of them like wine from a burst skin."
However their ordeal was far from over, Belisarius' knew that Khosrau's army was still largely intact and while he'd won the day the decisive victory he'd sought hadn't occured, it was then Belisarius' made of the most debated and risky decisions of his entire career.
He ordered his exhausted troops to break camp and move on to Ctesiphon.
This decision could have easily been the end of Belisarius and his army, he would not have been the first to be swallowed up by the vast the Persian territory and he narrowly avoided two small but fresh Persian Cavarly forces on his way to Ctesiphon and if Khosrau had not been discomfited at his recent loss to Belisarius, driven back the Roman southern force and turned his army around for another battle, who is to stay what might have occurred then?
But as it was Belisarius narrowly avoided annihilation and reached the southern force and Khosrau, cut off from his supplies, shaken by his defeat and the idea of getting caught between two Roman armies continued his retreat and Belisarius' forces made Camp near the Euphrates and Procopius writes that, "An eery silence hung over the Roman as most of the entire slumbered, waking only to attend to their needs and to eat and drink before returning to their beds."