Clibanarii

Clibanarii

The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi (Greek: κλιβανοφόροι, meaning “camp oven-bearers” from the Greek word κλίβανος meaning "camp oven" or "metallic furnace") were a Sassanid Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of heavy armored horsemen. Similar to the cataphracti, the horsemen themselves and their horses were fully armoured. There are several theories to the origins of this name, one being that the men were literally nicknamed “camp oven bearers” (due to the amount of armour they wore that the troops heat up very quickly in the heat of battle) or that the name is derived from Persian word griwbanwar or griva-pana-bara meaning "neck-guard wearer"

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