Agrianian Infantry
Light Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
The Agrianian Peltasts are superb fighters who have provided elite light infantry to Macedon since before the time of Alexander the Great.
Description
The Agrianians are the special forces of the Macedonian army. Recruited from a Paionian tribe on the upper Strymon to the Northwest of Macedon that has sworn personal loyalty to Philip II, they excel as light infantry. The Agrianians primarily act as peltasts, throwing javelins at the enemy from afar with deadly precision. However, their curved Sica-style swords, crescent Pelte shields, and bronze helmets also enable them to survive in melee. They are specifically trained to take on mounted enemies.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Agrianians first appear in the historical records as subjects of the mighty Odrysian king Sitalkes (r. second half of the 5th century BC), who at that time controlled most of Thrace. They were part of his army when he invaded Macedon in 429 BC and attacked king Perdikkas II (r. ca. 450-413 BC; Thuc. 2.96). Despite some successes for the Thracians, they eventually retreated and Sitalkes fell in battle against the Triballi five years later (Thuc. 4.101.5). However, the Agrianians would rise to fame in the service of their previous enemies: Philip II of Macedon forged a personal bond with them and gave their warriors a special place in his army (FGH 115 Theopompos of Chios, F 145). They played a crucial role in the victorious battles of the king and, after his death, swore loyalty to his son Alexander III, who would become known as Alexander the Great. Langaros, the king of the Agrianians at the time, had already been a personal friend of Alexander when he was still a young prince and immediately supported him in his early wars to consolidate his position as the ruler of Macedon (Arr. Anab. 1.5.1-10). It was thus no surprise that he sent a contingent of his best men with Alexander to Asia.
Arguably their finest hour came at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. The general outline of the battle is so famous that it barely needs repeating. Countless books, documentaries, school teachers and films have told the story of Alexander charging straight at the Persian king Dareios III (r. 336-330 BC) with his Hetairoi, while his loyal second-in-command Parmenion (400-330 BC) held the lines of the phalanx together against the Persian onslaught. In this phase of the battle, the Agrianians proved their worth: the feared scythed chariots of the Achaemenids had accelerated and moved right towards them, but the peltasts peppered them with javelins and weakened them before they even reached them, "[...] and then the Agrianians snatched hold of the reins, pulled down the drivers, and crowding round the horses, cut them down" (Arr. Anab. 3.13.5-6). The incredible dexterity, bravery and sheer madness needed to do this speaks volumes for how useful the Agrianians must have been as a military force. A few years later, in 326 BC, at the Battle of the Hydaspes against the Indian king Poros, the Agrianians were similarly successful against elephants. In the thick forest, they managed to surround the beasts and to shoot them with javelins from all sides until they had been driven so crazy that they turned against their own troops (Arr. Anab. 5.17; with the interpretation of: Taylor, Macedonian Phalanx (2020), p. 288).
After Alexander passed away, the Agrianians soon came to serve the new kings of Macedon: the Antigonids (e.g., Liv. 33.18.8; 14; Polyb. 2.62.2; 10.42.2). They continued to supply troops to them until the very end, the defeat against the Romans at Pydna in 168 BC (Liv. 42.51.5). At the same time, they may have occasionally been recruited by other Thracian kings such as the later Odrysian kings or the rulers of Paionia, their neighbouring country, which had its own kings in the 3rd century BC. The ancient sources do not really specify their armament beyond designating them as peltasts. From that classification we can, however, infer that they carried javelins, wore bronze helmets and wicker Pelte shields with Thracian designs. Their melee weapon was most likely the curved Sica sword that was so widespread in Thrace and Illyria (e.g. Wilkes, Illyrians (1996), p. 238), while some may have carried the larger Romphaia or an axe.