У тексті дискутуються техніки бойового застосування списа сарматською кіннотою античної
доби, відображені у візуальних джерелах. Автор
зробив спробу інтерпретувати «баталістичну
сарматську іконографію» за допомогою західноєвропейських фехтувальних трактатів XV—XVI ст.
і висловив свої аргументи стосовно можливості /
неможливості побутування кінного таранного бою
і дворучного хвату списа в арсеналі сарматських
мілітарних практик.
The text discusses the techniques of combat use
of the spear on horseback by the Sarmathian cavalry
reflected in visual sources. The author attempts to interpret
the «Sarmatian military iconography» on the
base of Western European martial treatises of the
XV—XVI centuries and expressed his arguments about
the presence or absence of mounted shock combat and
a spear’s two-handed grip in the Sarmatian military
practices.
In conclusion full discussion of the «Sarmatian seat»
is based on an a priori statement that the Sarmatians
possessed the technique of mounted shock combat.
The historical sources do not confirm this thesis. Instea,
if we assume that the Sarmatians used the riding
horse primarily as means of transport on the battlefield
(rather than as a means of radically increasing
the power of the blow, as did the knights during shock
attack), then various techniques of holding and using
a spear, including two-handed grip, look quite possible,
especially at low speeds of the horse. But they should
not look at the «Sarmatian seat» for anything specifically
Sarmatian, their battle tactics were based on the
tactical and technical characteristics of the spear as a
weapon.
To master the military technology of mounted shock
combat a range of conditions were required: widespread
use of metal armor, specially bred and trained horses,
the presence of a saddle of special design and stirrups,
as well as specific rider skills, including special landing
in this saddle in «long» stirrups, and, most importantly,
the appropriate economic base and cultural
background on which the horseman who practiced such
military technology were able to improve on their experience
and to transfer competencies to the next generation
of military elites. Such conditions developed as a
result of the long evolution of military technology and
military culture, relatively late, in the middle of the
eleventh century. not everywhere in Europe, but exclusively
in the Franco-Norman area and led to the genesis
of Western European chivalry. Whereas no nomadic
culture, even in the Middle Ages, was able to adapt the
technology of mounted shock combat.
