KEEPING YOUR DISTANCE

Before 400 BC, as a rule, Greek armies employed mainly foreign peltasts, typically from Thracian communities. Some efforts were made, late in the Peloponnesian War, to equip Athenian oarsmen as peltasts (see AW 17.5). Even at the battle of Cunaxa (401 BC), the practice was already varied. Diodorus describes a brief exchange of javelins that more resembles the Roman practice than any battle in Thucydides (14.23.2), but Xenophon instead describes different practices of the Persians (who threw shorter javelins from horseback).

Aaron Beek

By the early fourth century, notably in the Corinthian War (395–387/6 BC), the city-states of Greece had begun assembling their own citizen corps of peltasts, many of which were equipped on the Thracian model, but were not Thracian themselves. Xenophon adds to the historians’ confusion in the Anabasis, sometimes referring to Thracians as an ethnic term, but sometimes also using it as shorthand for ‘skirmishers’, despite the army of Cyrus having a force of Thracian mercenary cavalry as well. Elsewhere, Xenophon refers to “the soldiers” as a distinct force separate from “the hoplites”. This frustrating lack of clarity quite likely represents also a lack of clarity in the fourth century, as terminology scrambled to keep up with practice. Peltasts were gaining in popularity however. Equipped with the iconic shield and…

You're reading a preview of

Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVIII.1

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.