peltasts

A ''peltast'' (, ) was a type of light infantry originating in Thrace and Paeonia and named after the kind of shield he carried.Williams, Mary Frances. "Philopoemen's special forces: Peltasts and a new kind of greek light-armed warfare (Livy 35.27)
" ''Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte'' H. 3 (2004): 257-277. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops.

The peltast often served as a skirmisher in Hellenistic armies. In the Middle Ages, the same term was used for a type of Byzantine infantryman.

Description

''Pelte'' shield

''Peltasts'' carried a crescent-shaped wicker shield called a "''pelte''" (Ancient Greek ; Latin: ) as their main protection, hence their name. According to Aristotle, the ''pelte'' was rimless and covered in goat- or sheepskin. Some literary sources imply that the shield could be round, but in art it is usually shown as crescent-shaped. It also appears in Scythian art and may have been a common type in Central Europe. The shield could be carried with a central strap and a handgrip near the rim or with just a central hand-grip. It may also have had a carrying strap (or ''guige''), as Thracian ''peltasts'' slung their shields on their backs when evading the enemy.

Weapons

''Peltasts'' weapons consisted of several javelins, which may have had straps to allow more force to be applied to a throw.

The size of these javelins could differ greatly from a modern olympic-style javelin. Xenophon mentions in his Anabasis an encounter with hostile Carduchians, fighting with longbows, wherein the Greeks reused carduchian arrows as javelins.

They were, moreover, excellent archers, using bows nearly three cubits long and arrows more than two cubits (86 cm -112 cm). When discharging the arrow, they draw the string by getting a purchase with the left foot planted forward on the lower end of the bow. The arrows pierced through shield and cuirass, and the Hellenes, when they got hold of them, used them as javelins, fitting them to their thongs.

Development

In Archaic Greece, the Greek martial tradition had been focused almost exclusively on the heavy infantry, or hoplites.

The style of fighting used by ''peltasts'' originated in Thrace, and the first Greek ''peltasts'' were recruited from the Greek cities of the Thracian coast. They are generally depicted on vases and in other images as wearing the typical Thracian costume, which includes the distinctive Phrygian cap made of fox-skin and with ear flaps. They also usually wore patterned tunics, fawnskin boots and long cloaks, called ''zeiras'', decorated with a bright, geometric, pattern. However, many mercenary peltasts were probably recruited in Greece. Some vases have also been found showing hoplites (men wearing Corinthian helmets, greaves and cuirasses, holding hoplite spears) carrying ''peltes''. Often, the mythical Amazons (women warriors) are shown with peltast equipment.

Peltasts gradually became more important in Greek warfare, in particular during the Peloponnesian War.

Xenophon, in the ''Anabasis'', describes ''peltasts'' in action against Achaemenid cavalry at the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC, where they were serving as part of the mercenary force of Cyrus the Younger.

Xenophon's description makes it clear that these ''peltasts'' were armed with swords, as well as javelins, but not with spears. When faced with a charge from the Persian cavalry, they opened their ranks and allowed the cavalry through while striking them with swords and hurling javelins at them.Xenophon. ''Anabasis''. .10.7

''Peltasts'' became the main type of Greek mercenary infantry in the 4th century BC. Their equipment was less expensive than that of traditional hoplites and would have been more readily available to poorer members of society. The Athenian general Iphicrates destroyed a Spartan phalanx in the Battle of Lechaeum in 390 BC, using mostly ''peltasts''. In the account of Diodorus Siculus, Iphicrates is credited with re-arming his men with long spears, perhaps in around 374 BC. This reform may have produced a type of "''peltast''" armed with a small shield, a sword, and a spear instead of javelins.

Some authorities, such as J.G.P. Best, state that these later "''peltasts''" were not truly ''peltasts'' in the traditional sense, but lightly armored hoplites carrying the ''pelte'' shield in conjunction with longer spears—a combination that has been interpreted as a direct ancestor to the Macedonian phalanx.Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, XV.44 However, thrusting spears are included in some illustrations of ''peltasts'' before the time of Iphicrates and some ''peltasts'' may have carried them as well as javelins rather than as a replacement for them. As no battle accounts describe ''peltasts'' using thrusting spears, it may be that they were sometimes carried by individuals by choice (rather than as part of a policy or reform). The Lykian sarcophagas of Payava from about 400 BC depicts a soldier carrying a round ''pelte'', but using a thrusting spear overarm. He wears a '' pilos'' helmet with cheekpieces, but no armour. His equipment therefore resembles Iphicrates's supposed new troops. Fourth-century BC ''peltasts'' also seem to have sometimes worn both helmets and linen armour.

Alexander the Great employed ''peltasts'' drawn from the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedonia, particularly the Agrianoi. In the 3rd century BC, ''peltasts'' were gradually replaced with '' thureophoroi'' infantrymen. Later references to ''peltasts'' may not in fact refer to their style of equipment as the word ''peltast'' became a synonym for ''mercenary''.

Anatolian

A tradition of fighting with javelins, light shield and sometimes a spear existed in Anatolia and several contingents armed like this appeared in Xerxes I's army that invaded Greece in 480 BC. For example, the Paphlagonians and Phrygians wore wicker helmets and native boots reaching halfway to the knee. They carried small shields, short spears, javelins and daggers.

In the Persian army

From the mid-5th century BC onwards, ''peltast'' soldiers began to appear in Greek depictions of Persian troops. They were equipped like Greek and Thracian ''peltasts'', but were dressed in typically Persian army uniforms. They often carried light axes, known as '' sagaris'', as sidearms. It has been suggested that these troops were known in Persian as '' takabara'' and their shields as ''taka''. The Persians may have been influenced by Greek and Thracian ''peltasts''. Another alternative source of influence would have been the Anatolian hill tribes, such as the Corduene, Mysians or Pisidians. In Greek sources, these troops were either called ''peltasts'' or ''peltophoroi'' (bearers of ''pelte'').

In the Antigonid army

In the Hellenistic period, the Antigonid kings of Macedon had an elite corps of native Macedonian ''peltasts''. However, this force should not be confused with the skirmishing ''peltasts'' discussed earlier. The ''peltasts'' were probably, according to F.W. Walbank, about 3,000 in number, although by the Third Macedonian War, this went up to 5,000 (most likely to accommodate the elite '' agema'', which was a sub-unit in the ''peltast'' corps). The fact that they are always mentioned as being in their thousands suggests that, in terms of organization, the ''peltasts'' were organized into '' chiliarchies''. This elite corps was most likely of the same status, of similar equipment and role as Alexander the Great's ''hypaspists''. Within this corps of ''peltasts'' was its elite formation, the Agema. These troops were used on forced marches by Philip V of Macedon, which suggests that they were lightly equipped and mobile. However, at the battle of Pydna in 168 BC, Livy remarks on how the Macedonian ''peltasts'' defeated the Paeligni and of how this shows the dangers of going directly at the front of a phalanx. Though it may seem strange for a unit that would fight in phalanx formation to be called ''peltasts'', ''pelte'' would not be an inappropriate name for a Macedonian shield. They may have been similarly equipped with the Iphicratean hoplites or ''peltasts'', as described by Diodorus.

Deployment & Role

''Peltasts'' were usually deployed on the flanks of the phalanx, providing a link with any cavalry, or in rough or broken ground. For example, in the ''Hellenica'', Xenophon writes 'When Dercylidas learned this (that a Persian army was nearby), he ordered his officers to form their men in line, eight ranks deep (the hoplite phalanx), as quickly as possible, and to station the ''peltasts'' on either wing along with the cavalry.

They could also operate in support of other light troops, such as archers and slingers. In the absence of a large enough cavalry force, or when otherwise deemed appropriate, ''peltasts'' would also pursue retreating enemies at the end of a battle, in order to capture or kill men who had thrown away their weapons or been isolated from their formation during the rout.

''Peltasts'' (and other light troops, as ancient sources tend to group all types of light troops together) had a number of essential tasks on the march, away from the battlefield that were difficult to perform for the heavy infantry. They were often used to occupy mountain passes and defensible hills which the army would have to pass, to deny enemy forces a superior attacking position. They would also lay ambushes in wooded or otherwise difficult terrain, defend the rear of the marching army against enemy pursuers, and detachments of light troops would also frequently be used to scout ahead when knowledge of the area and presence of enemies was not well established.

Tactics

When faced with hoplites, ''peltasts'' operated by throwing javelins at short range. If the hoplites charged, the ''peltasts'' would retreat. As they carried considerably lighter equipment than the hoplites, they were usually able to evade successfully, especially in difficult terrain. They would then return to the attack once the pursuit ended, if possible, taking advantage of any disorder created in the hoplites' ranks. At the Battle of Sphacteria, the Athenian forces included 800 archers and at least 800 ''peltasts''. Thucydides, in the ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', writes

They (the Spartan hoplites) themselves were held up by the weapons shot at them from both flanks by the light troops. Though they (the hoplites) drove back the light troops at any point in which they ran in and approached too closely, they (the light troops) still fought back even in retreat, since they had no heavy equipment and could easily outdistance their pursuers over ground where, since the place had been uninhabited until then, the going was rough and difficult.

When fighting other types of light troops, ''peltasts'' were able to close more aggressively in hand-to-hand combat, as they had the advantage of possessing shields, swords, and helmets.

Medieval Byzantine

A type of infantryman called a ''peltast'' (''peltastēs'') is described in the ''Strategikon'', a 6th-century AD military treatise associated with the early Byzantine emperor Maurice. ''Peltasts'' were especially prominent in the Byzantine army of the Komnenian period in the late 11th and 12th centuries. Although the ''peltasts'' of Antiquity were light skirmish infantry armed with javelins, it is not safe to assume that the troops given this name in the Byzantine period were identical in function. Byzantine ''peltasts'' were sometimes described as "assault troops". Byzantine ''peltasts'' appear to have been relatively lightly equipped soldiers capable of great battlefield mobility, who could skirmish but who were equally capable of close combat. Their arms may have included a shorter version of the ''kontarion'' spear employed by contemporary Byzantine heavy infantry.Dawson, p. 59.

See also

* Ancient Macedonian military
* Toxotai
* ''Velites''
* Takabara

References

Bibliography

;Ancient sources
*Diodorus Siculus. History.
*Herodotus.'' The Histories''
*Thucydides. '' The History of the Peloponnesian War''.
*Xenophon. ''Anabasis''.
*Xenophon. ''Hellenica''.

;Modern sources
*Best, J. G. P. (1969). ''Thracian Peltasts and their influence on Greek warfare''.
*
* Connolly, Peter (1981). ''Greece and Rome at War''. Macdonald (Black Cat, 1988).
*
*Head, Duncan (1982). ''Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars''. WRG.
*Head, Duncan (1992). ''The Achaemenid Persian Army''. Montvert.
*"Light Infantry", special issue of ''Ancient Warfare'', 2/1 (2008)
* Sekunda, Nicholas V (1988). ''Achaemenid Military Terminology''. In Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran. Band 21.
*

External links

Picture of a peltast

{{Ancient Greece topics

Military units and formations of ancient Greece
Military units and formations of the Hellenistic world
Ancient Greek infantry types
Infantry
Mercenary units and formations of antiquity
Infantry units and formations of Macedon
Combat occupations