They wore helmets on their heads, coats of mail about their bodies, and greaves on their legs.

Their chief offensive arms seem, then, to have been the short sword, the javelin, and the knife.

It is probable that they were without shields, being sufficiently defended by their armor, which (as we have seen) was almost complete.
The javelin of the horseman, which was his special weapon, was a short strong spear or pike, with a shaft of cornel-wood, and an iron point.

It was common for him to carry two such weapons, one of which he used as a missile, while he retained the other in order to employ it in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

It was a stout manageable weapon, and though no match for the longer and equally strong spear of the Macedonian cavalry, was preferred by Xenophon to the long weak reed-lance commonly carried by horse-soldiers in his day.
It was the practice of the later Persians to protect with armor, not only the horseman, but the horse.