Fighting Styles
The Persian army was a light army. Traditional Persian men fighting consisted of light armor and little face to face combat. The Middle Eastern heat was so intense that it necessitated the need to decrease the amount of armor worn by the soldiers. Metal was also expensive at the time. Therefore, most of the Achaemenid soldiers, except for cavalry, did not wear heavy metallic body protection because of their emphasis on rapid advance and archery. Soldiers mostly wore tunics, which were loose clothing reaching the knees that were padded with linen as a protective gear against soaring arrows. The Persians were mostly armed with spears, arrows, and bows and so they did not need armor as compared to the Greeks who used heavier weaponry like axes and metal swords that would easily severely injure a fighter close by.