The ekdromoi were an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

light

hoplites Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The f ...

. The name means 'out-runners', and denotes their ability to exit the

phalanx The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly ...

and fight in an irregular order, as the situation might demand. The ekdromoi were mostly lightly armoured (with aspis and bronze helmet) fast infantry and were armed with spear and short sword. The term would actually describe any hoplite who practiced the tactic of ''ekdrome'', that is the irregular exit from the battle line. Within the phalanx, they functioned as ordinary hoplites, but when ordered, they would leave the ranks and attack the enemy in loose order. Tactical necessities that would ordain such a use would include the constant harassment from enemy skirmishers, clearing a path from enemy presence (so that the army could pass in safety), the fast capture of key points within or around the battlefield, the pursuit of a broken enemy, etc. Their lightness did not guarantee contact with a skirmishing enemy, but they would effectively push the enemy and clear the way.

Psiloi In Ancient Greek armies, the ''psiloi'' (Ancient Greek , singular ψιλός, ''psilos'', literally "bare, stripped") were the light infantry who usually acted as skirmishers and missile troops, and who were distinguished from the armored '' hopl ...

and

peltasts A ''peltast'' ( grc-gre, πελταστής ) was a type of light infantryman, originating in Thrace and Paeonia, and named after the kind of shield he carried. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis distin ...

would never allow themselves to fight in melee with the ekdromoi, since the latter were, even without armor, much better equipped for close combat than poorly armed skirmishers.

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

made use of ekdromoi during the march of the

Ten Thousand The Ten Thousand ( grc, οἱ Μύριοι, ''oi Myrioi'') were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Bat ...

against the numerous enemies disrupting the Greek columns, as is multiple times attested in his work, '' The Anabasis''.

References

Ancient Greek titles Ancient Greek infantry types {{AncientGreece-stub

See also

References