Dailami

Introduction

Dailami were mountain people from south of the Caspian Sea in Iran. They were prominent in mercenary service from the 6th century, and were the premier Islamic infantry of the 9th to 12th centuries. They were armed with zupin-spears, axes and missile weapons. They formed part of the body-guard of several Islamic states.

DBM classes Dailami as Ax(S) with a proportion as Ps(O). The missile troops can provide rear-support to the Ax(S). It has been argued that Bd(F) is a better classification of these troops, at least for Dailami guards units.

Early sources

Procopius describes Dailami with three javelins.

Later in the 6th century Agathias describes Dailami with long and short spears, and describes their tactics:

"One could hardly describe them as light armed troops, nor for that matter

as the type of heavy infantry that fight exclusively at close quarters.

For they both discharge missiles at a distance when the occasion arises

and engage in hand to hand fighting, and are expert at charging an enemy

phalanx and breaking its close-knit ranks with the weight of their charge.

They can reform their own ranks with ease and adapt them selves to any

contingency. Even steep hills they run up without difficulty ..."

Translation taken from Sowing the Dragon's Teeth.

Dailami in Islamic armies

They are equipped with zupin double-pointed spears or axes for a shock role.

Guard troops are normally depicted in jawshan or dir cuirasses.

They formed up in a shield-wall - a poem written in 1048 calls the Dailamite shields "similar to a wall and painted in 100 colours" (V Minorsky, "La Domination des Dailamites", a paper given in 1931, English versions at http://www.zazaki.de/englisch/articels/minorsky-dailamites.htm and http://members.tripod.com/~zaza_kirmanc/research/dailamites.htm ).

The performance of the Fatimid Dailami guard against the Byzantines, when in one engagement the attack of 500 Dailami guardsmen broke the Byzantine centre, particularly suggests Bd (F) would be more appropriate than Ax (S).