Hippika gymnasia
The hippika gymnasia (Greek: ἱππικὰ γυμνάσια, "horse exercises") were ritual tournaments performed by the cavalry of the Roman Empire to both practice their skills and display their expertise.
[1] They took place on a parade ground situated outside a fort and involved the cavalry practicing manoeuvring and the handling of weapons such as javelins and spears.
[2] The riders and their mounts wore highly elaborate armour and helmets specially made for display purposes, decorated with images from classical mythology.
[3] Such tournaments served several purposes, improving the riders' skills, helping to build unit morale and impressing dignitaries and conquered peoples.
[4] The riders practised complex manoeuvres with dummy weapons, alternately attacking and defending, and displaying their horsemanship and courage to onlookers.
The participants in the hippika gymnasia would have been an impressive sight for those who saw them; as one writer has put it, "a cavalcade of richly armoured horses and men – who in their masked helmets with silvered faces looked like divine beings.
"[5] The riders wore brightly coloured tunics – which seems to have evolved into decorated bronze armour by the 3rd century – and very ornate greaves and helmets with face masks.
As Arrian described them, The horsemen enter [the parade ground] fully armed, and those of high rank or superior in horsemanship wear gilded helmets of iron or bronze to draw the attention of the spectators.
Instead of breastplates the horsemen wear close-fitting Cimmerian tunics [leather jerkins] embroidered with scarlet, red or blue and other colours.
They were decorated with embossed reliefs and engravings depicting the war god Mars and other divine and semi-divine figures associated with the military.
Arrian also describes the horses as wearing frontlets or head armour, of which examples were found at the Roman fort of Trimontium (Newstead) in Scotland.
This was a challenging exercise, as Arrian noted: It is at this point that good horsemanship is especially needed to be able simultaneously to throw at those who are charging in and to give one's right hand side the protection of the shield.
[11]In another exercise, the cavalry would attempt to throw as many darts as far as they could in a gallop across the parade area in front of the viewing platform where the commanders or other dignitaries were sitting.
"[12] The final stage of the display demonstrated skills that would evidently have been useful in combat, where the cavalry was given the task of chasing down the enemy and preventing him from regrouping.
Also they draw their swords and make a variety of strokes, best calculated to overtake an enemy in flight, to kill a man already down, or to achieve any success by a quick movement [along] from the flanks.
