he Parthian cavalry usually inflicted heavy casualties upon the predominantly infantry-based Roman army in their initial onslaught. In order to deprive some of their enemies of their mounts and draw them into close-order fighting where they could get the better of their opponents, the Romans adopted the ruse of feigned retreat, only to throw down caltrops, known in Greek as τριβόλοι (), in their wake. These four-pointed iron implements were designed so that, however they landed, three points formed a tripod whilst the fourth projected upwards, posing
