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Short description

The main Bosporan Infantry is formed after the example of standard Greek Thureophoroi, but also features Galatian, Thracian and Scythian influences.

Description

The army of the Bosporan Kingdom has adopted the Thureos shield and retrained many of its Hoplites as more flexible infantry. Wearing Scythian-style clothes and Scytho-Phrygian caps, they are protected by the Galatian Thureos shield with umbo and Greek bronze greaves, while many wear Hellenic Pilos or Attic helmets. Their offensive weapons are the classical Greek thrusting spear, the dory, as well as javelins.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Kingdom of the Kimmerian Bosporos was created in the early 5th century BC by a family of local dynasts, who united the Greek colonies of the region under their control in order to improve their defence and coordinate their commercial activities (Strab. 7.4.4). It only evolved into a proper kingdom under the rule of the originally Thracian Spartokid dynasty, who controlled the empire from 438 to 108 BC. The fertile plains of what is now Crimea allowed the Bosporans to grow grain in large quantities, the surplus of which was exported to Athens and beyond (cf. Noonan, Grain Trade, 1973). Small scale raids into the lands of the native Taurians and the neighbouring Scythians guaranteed a steady supply of slaves, who were also sold abroad (Avram, Some Thoughts about the Black Sea and the Slave Trade, 2007).

Militarily, the kingdom usually depended on mercenaries and the failure of the Scythians to form larger alliances (Gajkudevič, Bosporanisches Reich (1971), p. 420). Its main citizen troops were the Hoplites from the poleis of Pantikapaion, Gorgippia, Phanagoreia and Hermonassa. In the middle of the third century BC, they adopted the Illyro-Galatian Thureos shield, either following the role model of mercenaries on their payroll, or the introduction of Thureophoroi in other Greek states further to the south (Mielczarek, Bosporan Kingdom (1999), pp. 39-41). Thureos shields are depicted on the coins of Leukon II (r. ca. 240-220 BC) and on stelai from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD, such as those of Rhodon, son of Helios, Staphilos, son of Glaukias or Kleon, son of Kleon. Thureophoroi became the standard Greek infantry of the time and were especially useful against the mobile enemies the Bosporan Greeks would face on the outskirts of the Eurasian steppes. These Bosporan Thureophoroi combine Greek, Galatian, Thracian and Scythian influences and form the kingdom’s basic line infantry.

These men are equipped with a thrusting spear, javelins and a large thureos shield with umbo (Mielczarek, Bosporan Army (1999), p. 55). Their clothes betray a mix of influences, from their Greek origins and Scytho-Taurian neighbours to the Thracian culture of the Spartokid Dynasty and its mercenaries. They are based on the 3rd century BC Pantikapaion terracotta figurines (Mielczarek (1999), pl. VI a,b), who wear Scythian style tunics and Phrygian caps. As attested by archaeology, however, many are protected by helmets, which are inherently Greek, being either of the Pilos type, made of iron, or of the Attic model forged from either bronze or iron (Mielczarek (1999), pp. 51-52). Most of the stelai show no body armour (id., p. 56) and no metal cuirasses from this period have been found on the territory of the Bosporan kingdom (id., pp. 52-53), so they only wear tunics. Bronze greaves as used by Hoplites complete their equipment (id., p. 57).