I WTB a 650AD Sassanid Persian

[Al_Farooq]

I'd like to be a 640's-650's Sassanid officer from the area around modern-day Rasht, that served in Rostam Farrokhzad's doomed army in the 640's, just before the Arab armies took everything over.

[wulfgarboyce]

Osprey did a book on the Sassanian Elite. I have it, but it is in storage due to a move. I'll see if I can dig it up. I seem to remember lots of mail, some lamellar, and a helmet with a mail avetail coveing the face that would be good for hiding a bar grill.

PLus it's cool that they captured a Roman Emperor, Valerian.

[Verjigorm]

An excellent persona. Do you intend to represent a clibinnari nobleman, An Immortal or regular infantry?

Your say an officer, so are we talking Charigh or Tirbadh?

[Al_Farooq]

Man. I should've known. If in doubt, Osprey has a book on it. How accurate are their series, anyway?

Anyway, I didn't think the Immortals lasted that late into the empire, so I hadn't thought about them. I was considering one of the Clibanarii noblemen.

My persona is kind've odd. I had been reading that there was a fair bit of contact between China and Sassanid Persia. So after the fall of Farrokhzad's army, my persona is heading east rather than face religious persecution or forced conversion.

As for the charigh/tirbadh question, I'm afraid I haven't gotten that far into the research. Were those different officer types?

Edit: I got my hands on the Osprey Sassanian Elite book, and I read a little blurb about the Dailamites. I don't think I've ever heard of them. Does anyone have any information about these people as well?

Many thanks,
- Mikha'il ibn Alikabar al Farooq al Rashti

[Verjigorm]

Daylami infanty were hillmen from the Gilan province of Iran/Persia. They were renowned for their strong-minded ness and capability as light troops or heavy infantry. Wikipedia says they fought with heavy two-pronged javilins called Zhupins, and ussually used large round shields. The ska battle-axe wasn't uncommon amongsthem. Daylami also served in Ghulam regiments under the various early caliphates.

The immortals may or may not have lasted into the Sassanid empire. However, the Jan-Avaspar(literaally: "The Sacrificers of their lives") were present, and were considered an elite regiment.

There's some evidence that the emperor(Shahanshah) has his own corps of highly motivated, well-trained and equipped infantry.

Charighs were provincal governors, Marzbans were cavalry commanders and Tirbadhs were infantry commanders.

[Al_Farooq]

I must say, I'm quite intrigued by the Dailami, from what little I've read about them. It doesn't seem like there's very much information out there about them, though. Any recommendations?

Many thanks,
-Farooq

[Verjigorm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilan

Wiki gives a bit on the Daylami. I have a copy of Byzantine:Beyond the Golden Gate(a supplementfor the warhammer: ancient battles rules), and it provides the following information for the Daylami:

"A number oftribsmen served as skirmishers and light infantry. Kurds, Armenians, Syrians and the prized Daylamite mountainmen skirmished in front of the army on the flanks. The Daylami were especially valued by the persians for their fighting spirit."

"The fierce but unrully Daylami infantry were leendary, even before the Sassanians seized power. fighting with one or more heavy javelins called zhupins, they advanced behinda wall of shields"

from the Early Caliphate army list:
"Being some of the last to accept Islam, te Daylami people from northern Persia were as famous for their fighting prowess as they were infamous for their strong mindedness."

If you find anymore, let me know. The daylimites seem pretty cool, tell ya that truth.

[Arx]

*gently wipes dust off thread*

So I've been wondering about putting together a fourth or fifth century Daylamite infantryman kit, and it seemed like this thread would be a good place to ask.

Wikipedia informs me that helmet-wise I may be looking at a vaguely spangenesque kind of a deal:



Potentially with a kind of mail veil/aventail hanging down the front and back, under which a grill and gorget could probably be hidden. I'm not sure how common those helms would have been, nor the period.

For body armour, I believe I've seen a mail hauberk and splint vambraces. Not sure about reputability there either.

I should think a straight sword and tall rectangular shield would be about right. Not sure how to handle gauntlets though.

Thoughts? I don't actually know much about this era or area, which is part of what piqued my interest.

Edit: I seem to have found a small treasure trove in sasanika.org, which appears to have a decent collection of primary texts.

There's also a fair bit of surviving art, which I'm having surprisingly little luck finding a decent archive of at first glance.

But, this is very nice:



Khosrau I, 6th century. Corroborates my previous thoughts on the helm and hauberk, although it looks like I was wrong on the shield. There are quite a few other nice reliefs.