Hippika gymnasia

The hippika gymnasia (Greek: ἱππικὰ γυμνάσια, "horse exercises") were ritual displays or tournaments performed by the cavalry of the Roman Empire to display their skill and expertise. 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. The riders and their mounts wore highly elaborate armour and helmets specially made for display purposes, decorated with images from classical mythology. Such tournaments served several purposes, improving the riders' skills, helping to build unit morale and impressing dignitaries and conquered peoples.

The Romans maintained substantial cavalry forces to support their legions. The elite of the cavalry, the alae, were expected to perform complex manoeuvres that required extensive training. The role of the cavalry was described in the 2nd century AD by the Roman writer Arrian in his Ars Tactica, a (possibly theoretical) work in which he described how the legions and auxiliary troops could be organised to defeat an enemy. He recorded the hippika gymnasia in considerable detail, though – as he was writing in Greek – we do not know the Latin name of such events. 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." 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. Unlike the helmets made for active service, these do not cover the head and cheeks only but are made to fit all round the faces of the riders with apertures for the eyes . . . From the helmets hang yellow plumes, a matter of décor as much as utility. As the horses move forward, the slightest breeze adds to the beauty of these plumes. They carry oblong shields of a lighter type than those used in action, since both agility and smart turnout are the objects of the exercise and they improve the appearance of their shields by embellishment. Instead of breastplates the horsemen wear close-fitting Cimmerian tunics [leather jerkins] embroidered with scarlet, red or blue and other colours. On their legs they wear tight trousers, not loosely fitting like those of the Parthians and Armenians. The horses have frontlets carefully made to measure and also have side armour.

...
Wikipedia