cataphract

1. (nautical, historical) Of a galley such as a trireme: with the upper tier of rowers shielded rather than exposed.Examples: "And first we must call attention to the fact that two classes of vessels appear to have been employed, distinguished by the name of "Aphract," unfenced, or "Cataphract," fenced, according as the rowers of the upper tier were protected or exposed. Both classes were decked and floored, but the "Aphract" class carried their decks and flooring lower than the "Cataphract," so that in them the rowers of the upper tier were visible above the side of the vessel; [...] [F]rom the time of the invention by the Thasians of this system, all the larger vessels of war used by both Greeks and Romans were Cataphract. In the Cataphract trireme, the space allowed for each oarsman was, according to [B.] Graser, eight square feet per man, and this proportion was observed in the larger vessels up to the octireme."; "The ancients either called these ships by their class name (a number plus the -eres root) or by a descriptive term "cataphract" (kataphraktos) which means something like "armored" or "fenced" in the sense of having reinforced decks and sides to protect the oarcrew from missiles and deck-fighting. Because "The Age of Titans" involved galleys whose signature feature was their larger than normal size, and because cataphract galleys could comprise small ships that were protected by extra planking, I frequently employ another term to describe these ships, namely, "big" or "large," from the Greek megala skaphe and its variants megalai nees (big ships) and megista skaphe (biggest ships)."Antonyms: aphracthistorical

1. (military, historical) A soldier (especially a horseman) covered with a cataphract (etymology 1, sense 1).Examples: "He who lookes you in the face, ſaith he ſees you, though the reſt of your bodie be within your cloathes, and if you, being an ὁωλομάχος a cataphract in your proteſtantiſh πανοπλία [panoplía, suit of armour] should for fear pull downe your beuer before you come into the liſt, your Aduerſarie for all that might light vpon your (  ) vnleſſe you bring with you Giges his ring, ſo to make your ſelf inuiſible; [...]"; "Immediately / Was Samſon as a public ſervant brought, / In thir ſtate Livery clad; before him Pipes / and Timbrels, on each ſide went armed guards, / Both horſe and foot before him and behind / Archers, and Slingers, Cataphracts and Spears."; "Lucullus also had these [the cavalry of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia] in his army at the siege of Tigranocerta; and in the battle with Tigranes made choice of them and the Thracian horse to attack the Cataphracts, the choicest of the enemy's cavalry, and to drive them from the ground."historical