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Short description

Aitolian Prodromoi were armed as mounted javelinmen, playing the roles of skirmishers, scouts and couriers.

Description

The Aitolian Prodromoi are a cavalry unit trained for scouting and harassing enemy troops. This unit is essentially made up of mounted javelinmen, consistent with Aitolia’s reputation of producing very capable skirmishers. They are only equipped with the most basic armament, including 6 foot long javelins, as well as a few cavalry helmets of the Boiotian type, though they wear no body armour or shields to speak of. The chief role of this type of cavalry was the harassment of the enemy when encountered on the march, screening the deployment of one’s own forces, and the pursuit of routing enemy troops. Their only other weapon was a straight, Greek-style sword for hand-to-hand fighting.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Known for its “rough and wretched” terrain (Strab. X, 2, 3) Aitolia’s landscape was largely made up of hills and mountain ranges that did not offer enough fertile and even ground for either farming or large-scale battles in formation (Mackil, Common Polity (2013), p. 277). Though a few poleis existed in the valleys and on the shores of the Corinthian Gulf, most of the population lived a pastoral life in decentralised, open villages around the hills. What the rugged mountains provided, though, was the opportunity for skirmish-based tactics around the heights, which various military powers of the time found hard to access. This was demonstrated, for instance, by Demosthenes' decisive defeat against the Atiolians during the Peloponnesian War (Thuc. III. 98), or the failed assault of the Macedonian generals Krateros and Antipater on the Aitolian mountain fortresses (Diod. Sic. XVIII, 25). During the Social War (220 – 217 BC), the Achaian strategos Aratos failed to hinder the Aitolians from mounting the heights nearby Olygytos, losing the battle against the Aitolian cavalry and light infantry alone in the process. Polybios attributed this loss to the general tactics of the Aitolians, which revolved around mountainous terrain, whereas the Achaians would have had the advantage on an even plain (IV, 11, 4).

The aforementioned terrain of Aitolia, useless for farming, was ideal for horse-rearing. In that field Aitolia – and Akarnania as well – were in no way inferior to Thessaly (Strab. VIII, 8, 1). The nature of Aitolia’s settlement distribution and the kind of decentralised combat that was born from it, gave its cavalry different strengths and weaknesses, making it skill-wise the opposite of Thessalian cavalry. Whereas the latter were devastating in formations and squadrons, they were vulnerable in single combat, which Atiolian cavalry excelled at (Polyb. IV, 8, 11). Polybios (and Livy, using Polybios as a source), go even further, calling the Aitolian cavalry superior (in detached single combat) to their Greek neighbours (Polyb. XVIII, 22, 5) or even all of Greece (Liv. XXXIII, 7, 13). In the mountains of Aitolia, this kind of combat would have revolved more around skirmishing than devastating charges, which would have been quite ineffective in the rugged hills.

The skill of Aitolian cavalry is demonstrated multiple times in the sources. In the first Macedonian War (214 – 205 BC), Aitolian cavalry supports a Roman army in a battle against Philip V of Macedon (238 – 179 BC) and acted as a “safeguard” to prevent an utter rout of the Roman troops (Liv. XXXIII, 7, 7). Previously, in another war against Philip V and the Achaians (the so-called “Social War”), the Aitolian cavalry did not only act in a harassing role, like in 218 BC where they attacked Philip’s rear-guard near Stratos (Polyb. V, 14, 3), but also in a protective role. At the battle of Kaphyai, they were stationed near their own rear-guard, where they intercepted an attack by the Achaian cavalry and light infantry, in the process routing not just them, but also heavily armed Thorakitai (Polyb. IV, 11-12).