1. Seleucid arms and armour captured by the Romans after their victory at Magnesia in 190 BC. Illustration by Mark Birge-Anderson.
2. Terracotta plaque of a Parthian cataphract hunting a lion, from Babylonia, 2nd century AD. British Museum, London.
3. Depiction of a fully armoured cataphract. Redrawn version of a crude graffito found at Dura Europos, 2nd–3rd century AD. Illustration by Mark Birge-Anderson.
4. A fragment of ancient Roman scale armour (lorica squamata). Museum of Somerset, Taunton, UK.
5. Sarmatian cataphracts flee from Roman cavalry during the Dacian wars (AD 101–106) from the reliefs on Trajan’s Column, Rome, constructed in AD 113. Photo by Conrad Cichorius, 1896.
6. Sassanian cavalryman with a kontos attacking a fully armoured Parthian rider. Silver plate with gold coating. Azerbaijan Museum, Tabriz, Iran. Photo by Alborz Fallah.
7. Relief from Firzubad, Iran, depicting the victory in AD 224 of the Sassanian emperor, Ardashir I (r. 224–242), and his son, Prince Shapur. Illustration by Eugene Flandin, 1840.
8. Relief from Naqsh-i Rustam, Iran, depicting the Sassanian emperor, Bahram II (r. 274–293), in combat with a foe carrying a broken kontos.
9. Relief from Naqsh-i Rustam, Iran, showing a Sassanian emperor, Hormuzd II (r. 303–309), unhorsing an unknown opponent.
10. A relief of a Sassanian ruler armoured as a clibanarius from Taq-i Bustan, Iran. It depicts either Khosrow II (r. 590-628) or Peroz I (r. 459-484). Photograph by Javad Yousefi.
11. Drawing of a relief, which depicts laminated limb armour and a helmet with a metal facemask, from the Column of Arcadius, constructed in 5th century Constantinople.
12. Mosaic depicting a Late Roman armoured cavalryman mounted on an armoured horse. Photograph courtesy of Simon MacDowall.
13. Facemask for Roman cavalry, early 1st century AD, from Kalkriese. Museum und Park Kalkriese, Germany. Photograph by Carole Raddato.
14. Roman cavalry facemask helmet found at Noviomagus, 1st century AD. Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen, Netherlands. Photograph by Carole Raddato.
15. Insignia of the Magistri Officiorum showing the arms and armour of the Roman state factories (fabricae) from the Notitia Dignitatum, late 4th/early 5th century AD. MS. Canon. Misc. 378, Roll 159 B, Frame 34. Bodleian Library, Oxford.
16. Weapons and armour of Late Roman soldiers, including laminated limb defences worn by the cataphracts, from the Notitia Dignitatum. MS. Canon. Misc. 378, Roll 316.2, Frame 2. Bodleian Library, Oxford.
17. A 14th century illustration that shows a fully armoured Byzantine warrior mounted on an unarmoured horse. Alexander Romance manuscript. San Giorgi de Greci, Venice.
18. The cavalry of Alexander the Great anachronistically depicted as cataphracts in a 14th century illustration from the Byzantine Alexander Romance manuscript. San Giorgio de Greci, Venice.