RICH MAN’S WARFARE The Decelean War

THEME: THe ATHeNIAN C AVA LRY In most ancient societies, literary sources and artistic repre- sentations commemorate the feats and image of the higher classes, and war is no exception. From Homeric heroes to medieval knights, we often have a clearer idea of how the upper classes were equipped, how they dressed, and how they fought than we do of the common men. Greek cavalry is one of the few exceptions to this rule.

By Giannis Kadoglou

A heavily armoured Athenian cavalry- man. He is armed with both thrusting and throwing spears as well as a kopis. His small mount is equipped with an efippion, or saddle cloth. © Giannis Kadoglou

Ancient Ancient Warfare Warfare XI-6 XI-6 2222 rchaic and classical while the other would stay home to Greece does not fit the guard the city. It is evident, however, usual mould, because that at the beginning of the fourth the rise of the city states century BC the number of horsemen entailedA the celebration of the city’s had dropped by perhaps twenty per- driving force: the hoplites. Athens cent, to the point that Xenophon in in particular required a constant his treatise The Cavalry Commander highlighting of its middle class, the suggests the enlisting of foreign mer- stock of the heavy infantry, whose cenaries to fill the gaps and explores high numbers denoted political ways to attract new conscripts from power in the voting system. the city. It is not clear whether this Despite being the pre-eminent shortage in men was due to casual- naval power of the Classical era as ties from the ongoing wars of that well as a major land power on the time, or because the richest citizens strength of its hoplites, Athens also preferred to fight as hoplites. Accord- maintained a formidable force of ing to our sources, the most promi- cavalry that would dominate and nent citizens certainly often fought outnumber the mounted troops of as hoplites. This raises the question most other city states. It paid as much of whether the regulations pertaining attention to maintaining its horse- to service in the cavalry were a little men at the peak of their capabilities loose, or there were other legal ways as any other city apart from Thessaly, to serve in the infantry. petasos hat and Grave stele of an athenian and perhaps Macedonia. Those two a short cloak, the horseman, 370s BC. De- spite his total lack of ar- horse-holding states, however, did Arms and armour chlamys. Often the mour, he is only carrying Like the hoplites, the hippeis pro- not follow the city-state pattern of horseman wears a long spear with a large southern Greece and its colonies. vided their own horses and their own nothing else, ex- sauroter (butt spike) un- Unlike Sparta, where the rich- weapons. They were responsible for cept perhaps a suitable for throwing. est and most aristocratic citizens the proper training of their horses, chiton under his © Wikimedia Commons were most certainly hoplites, in Ath- and apparently were free to select cloak. Occasion- ens the richest citizens made up the their own armour and weapons. Xen- ally he might be shown wearing a horsemen. The two higher classes of ophon has nothing to suggest about spolas or a bronze muscled cuirass, Athens were the pentakosiomedim- how the men must be equipped in and perhaps one of the open type noi (those whose property or estate his Cavalry Commander. In contrast, helmets, chalcidian or attic, with could produce 500 medimnoi of wet he goes into great detail in his On hinged cheek guards that leave the or dry goods, or their equivalent, per Horsemanship, which advises the face uncovered, and cut-out ear year) and the triakosiomedimnoi (as cavalrymen themselves. It seems the holes. Often instead of the petasos above but 300 medimnoi per year). cavalry force of Athens was neither or helmet, the horseman adopts Athens selected the men who were a shock nor a missile force, and we Thracian style and wears a fox skin. required to breed horses and serve cannot categorise it as either heavy or Indeed, Thracian attire was very in the cavalry from both of these light cavalry. It was all of the above at popular among horsemen from the classes. The triakosiomedimnoi are in once, depending on the equipment middle of the fifth century onwards, fact also referred to as hippeis, liter- and armour of the men. consisting of the alopeke (the fox ally cavalrymen. A man could avoid The horsemen themselves, as fur hat), the Thracian cloak with service only if he could prove that he immortalised on funerary stelae, on characteristic geometric designs, didn’t have the resources to breed pottery, and (most prominently) the and tall riding boots with fur flaps horses or that he wasn’t fit enough Parthenon frieze, might shed some hanging from the upper lip. Greaves due to some disability. light on the equipment of choice. In theory, the Athenian cavalry Their attire is typi- was 1000 men strong in two divi- callly the Thes- sions, each commanded by a hippar- salian style chos. Usually one cavalry command- of a broad er would lead one force on campaign brimmed

- A rare vase depiction of horsemen during their training or per haps sports event. The cavalry would be called out by the hip- parchos in specific days for training. Javelin throwing both for distance and accuracy was one of their basic skills. Xenophon y Ancient Warfare XI-6 suggests different techniques for both intentions. 23 (Top left) The author dressed in the most commonly seen Athenian rider's attire: a petasos hat, a chiton and chlamys. are very rarely depicted in Greek © Giannis Kadoglou art, although reenacting experience (Top right) This horseman from the Parthe- shows that they are not prohibitively non frieze is one of the few depicted in restrictive when riding. their full protective equipment. He is wear- The weapons of choice are a ing an open faced helmet and a spolas (a couple of short spears that can serve leather cuirass as described by Xenophon) as javelins, or a longer thrusting with scale reinforcments at the sides. spear. Sometimes the horseman car- © Bruce Allardice, Cairo, 2013. ries both types of shafted weapon. (Bottom, left to right) The iconic cavalry- The sword is usually the kopis or man as depicted on the Parthenon frieze. machaira, but the popular xiphos He is wearing a petasos hat, a chiton and a chlamys. This is by far the commonest attire still makes an appearance too. Lit- as depicted on sculpture and vases around erary sources for this period never the time of the Decelean war; A lightly ar- describe cavalry in action as using moured horseman from Kerameikos. His shields, and indeed, after the Archa- petasos, chiton and chlamys as well as his ic era, horsemen are almost never kopis make him a very typical example of depicted with shields either. Even in Athenian hippeis. Around 390 BC. © Giannis Kadoglou earlier depictions their practical use is questionable, since what is shown is effectively hoplites on horses, and Tactics in most cases not in action. The Greeks knew various forms So how did these men perform on the of horse armour. However, they battlefield? Their fighting methods as described by Xenophon consisted of chose not to use it extensively. De- tle, the Athenians did not manage to a series of linear attacks and retreats spite the suggestions of Xenophon, exploit any strategical advantages against other cavalry. They probably who was a supporter of a very against the city of Syracuse, failing threw their javelins from afar, and heavily armoured man and horse, to inflict substantial casualties on then switched to the spear or kept the Athenians are shown as having the fleeing hoplites. The enemy cav- one javelin if they came to grips with mounted their horses without as alry ensured the safety of the beat- the enemy horse or light infantry as much as a saddle pad. It is not clear en Syracusans, who had the time per Xenophon’s suggestions (On whether the efippion (saddle) was to remove the treasure of a nearby Horsemanship 9.12). They would omitted by Athenian artists to reveal temple and return to the protection not come to grips with hoplites, un- the equine beauty, but it is frequent- of their city. Nicias sent a letter to less they were harassing them on the ly mentioned in the sources and is Athens where, among other things, march, during a hasty retreat, or if the more popular in Hellenistic reliefs. he asked for cavalry reinforcements. It is not certain, either, if it involved former routed. Horsemen were per- The cavalry of Athens, however, a form of primitive seat or was just a haps not decisive in pitched battles was destined for a period of challeng- simple rug or animal skin. where large bodies of hoplites were es and hardships. At the beginning of involved, but they were capable of the campaign season of 413 BC, the protecting a defeated army, ensur- Peloponnesian army and its allies in- ing a safe retreat that might otherwise vaded Attica in their by then custom- have turned into a massacre. A small ary fashion. This time, however, they body of fifty horsemen was deemed came with a new plan: they began essential by the retreating force of the fortification of Decelea, a settle- 13,000 men that Xenophon and ment on a hill overlooking the entire Cheirisophos brought back home Attic plain. The huge Peloponnesian through hostile Persia in 401 BC. army devastated the land like it had General Nicias realized the been doing since the beginning of necessity of the Athenian cavalry the Peloponnesian War, but when it in the early stages of the Syracusan left, a garrison stayed behind to guard expedition in 415 BC, where, after Decelea. The garrison survived al- his initial victory in the opening bat- most solely by year-round looting of Horsemen from the south frieze of the Parthenon. Some of them are wearing spolades, the leather cui- rass, as described by Xenophon. © Wikimedia Commons

Ancient Warfare XI-6 24 the Athenian estates. The Athenian cavalry was sent out in a desperate at- tempt to limit their depredations and do something, at least. Thucydides writes: “And by the continual going out of the Athenian horsemen, mak- bers and lacking in capability tured magnificently on the Parthe- ing excursions to Decelea and de- for a pitched battle. If however non, a worthy reminder and tribute fending the country, their horses be- he uses them for guerrilla war- to one of the most overlooked forces came partly lamed through incessant fare, he will obviously have the of ancient Greek warfare. 0 labour in rugged grounds and partly power to do so. wounded by the enemy” (7.27.24). Giannis Kadoglou is a dedicated Xenophon in his Cavalry Command- Despite the Athenian defeat at Syra- reenactor interested in Archaic er makes mention of exactly that pe- cuse, largely because of a lack of vital and Classical Greece, and culti- riod and gives explicit suggestions cavalry and the fortification of Dece- lea, an enemy fortress within eyesight on how the cavalry must act in such Further reading conditions (7.6.1, 7.7.3): of Athens, the polis lasted another ten years in the War. When final defeat ♦♦ Xenophon, On Horse- But if he [the hipparchos] wants came, it was not directly due to either manship to protect those that are outside of these causes. Perhaps the Atheni- ♦♦ Xenophon, The Cavalry the walls, he must use only a an horsemen were indeed very well Commander small number of horsemen that trained and well led, dulling the ef- will be able to track the enemy fectiveness of the Spartan sting into ♦♦ Kagan, D., The Pelopon- and also retreat safely, as far as Athens’ farmland just enough. The nesian War (New York possible. Because for scouting, sight of these aristocratic youths rang- 2003) the few are not less capable ing outside the walls every day to ♦♦ Kaltsas, Nikolaos, The than the many. […] And if some- confront the enemy by themselves National Archaeological one wants to use the rest of the must have filled the hearts of the Museum, Athens (Athens horsemen as an army, his force Athenians with hope and pride! After 2002) will seem to him weak in num- all, their idealised images were cap-

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