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Short description

The proud citizens of Kyzikos, a wealthy Milesian colony in north-western Asia Minor, now fight as shielded cavalry, either for their own polis or for their allies, to whom they will always be loyal.

Description

These horsemen hail from Kyzikos, a beautiful Greek city on an island that marks the north-western end of the Asian continent. Following the example of their close ally, the Kingdom of Pergamon, they have adopted the big, round Aspis shield. Some of them use shields with a round umbo and a kopis swords, others prefer Aspides with a long spina and javelins, but they all carry a xyston, the long Macedonian cavalry lance. Linothorakes, Phrygian, Thraco-Phrygian and Phrygo-Boiotian helmets afford them extra protection, making them an excellent heavy cavalry unit in the Kyzikan army.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In case our beloved readers do not yet know of Kyzikos, here is a short introduction. The Pontic Greek geographer and historian Strabo of Amaseia (ca. 63 BC-25 AD) wrote this in his ‘Geography’ (12.8.11C575):

‘Kyzikos is an island in the Propontis, being connected with the mainland by two bridges; and it is not only most excellent in the fertility of its soil, but in size has a perimeter of about five hundred stadia (= ca. 80-90 km). It has a city of the same name near the bridges themselves, and two harbours that can be closed, and more than two hundred shipsheds. One part of the city is on level ground and the other is near a mountain called Arktonoros. About this mountain lies another mountain, Dindymos; it rises into a single peak, and it has a temple of Dindymenê, mother of the gods, which was founded by the Argonauts. This city rivals the foremost of the cities of Asia in size, in beauty, and in its excellent administration of affairs both in peace and in war. And its adornment appears to be of a type similar to that of Rhodes and Massalia and ancient Carthage.’

Evidently, Strabo, who may well have visited the city, was impressed with what he saw. Kyzikos had been founded by Miletos in the year 756 BC and had always retained close ties with its mother city (Plin. nat. hist. V, 142, Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 1.955, Euseb. 2.81,87). It was ruled by an oligarchy, just like Miletos, though in the mid-6th century BC, a man called Pytharchos attempted to become tyrant (Athen. I.30A). Though he failed, Kyzikos was indeed ruled by the tyrant Aristagoras a few decades later (Hdt. 4.138) and internal factions warred in the city for most of the Classical Period (Aristot. Oikon. 1347b31). During the Ionian Revolt, it joined Miletos, but submitted to the Persians just in time before being attacked (Hdt. 6.33). After the victories of the Greeks in 490, 480 and 479 BC, it became a member of the Delian League (Athen. 12.534). During the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians had to put down several revolts by the Kyzikans (Thuc. 8.107, Diod. 13.40, Xen. Hell. 1.1.11-19, Plut. Alkibiades 20) before it officially came under the Persian dominion again with the Peace of Antalkidas in 394 BC. Its exact status is not clear, however, and as it continued to mint drachmae with independent iconography, it was probably a dependent ally rather than a garrisoned city (Sandstrom, Silver Coinage, 1991).

When the chance arose, Kyzikos rejoined the Delian League, around 370 BC. The Persians reacted and besieged the city in 364 BC – to no avail (Diod. 15.81.5). Having survived this scare, Kyzikos soon grew confident again and attacked the island polis of Prokonnesos, another member of the Second Delian League (Ps.-Demosth. L 4-6). Athens retaliated a few years later by capturing Kyzikan ships, which ended the alliance between the two cities for a second – or third? Fourth? Fifth? – time (Demost. in Mid. 173). The Athenians did not attempt to capture Kyzikos this time, however, and in the following decades further Persian advances (Diod. 17.7.3) as well as an assault by the diadoch Arridaios were thwarted (Parian Marble B ep.12). After the battle of Kurupedion in 281 BC, it acknowledged the sovereignty of the Seleucids over Asia, and the city therefore begins in the Seleucid sphere in the RIS campaign. During the Seleucid civil wars of the 240s and 220s BC, Kyzikos regained full independence, and it later appears as an ally of Rhodes and Byzantion in 218 BC (Polyb. 5.63.5). Friendly relations with the Seleucids continued, however, and Kyzikos was thus never a member of the anti-Seleucid Northern League led by Herakleia Pontike, Bithynia and Byzantion.

Kyzikos' most crucial relationship was its friendship with Pergamon and its Attalid rulers, however: Philetairos, the founder of the dynasty, was already closely linked to Kyzikos, as is attested by the establishment of a festival for the dynast in Kyzikos, the Philetaireia, by the mid-3rd century BC (IG 660). A few years later Attalos I (r. 241-197 BC) married Apollonis, the moderate and pious daughter of an average Kyzikan citizen (Polyb. 22.20). As every CK player will know, marriages establish alliances, especially when there are plenty of children. Apollonis bore Attalos four sons, two of which (Eumenes II and Attalos II) would become kings. She probably died in 161/160 BC, since Eumenes II erected a temple for her one year later which was adorned by an inscription saying that Apollonis had ‘recently joined the Gods on Olympos’ (OGIS 477-478, no. 308). In Kyzikos, Eumenes II and Attalos II sponsored the construction of another temple for their mother, which included images of mothers lovingly caring for their children (Anth. Palat. 3.1-19). Accordingly, the Kyzikans fought on the Pergamene side in the war against Pontos in 183 BC (Polyb. 25.2.13) and in 154 BC they dispatched their fleet to attack Bithynia, the arch-rival of the Attalids (Polyb. 33.13.1).

The militaries of the two states became increasingly aligned in the 2nd century BC. Aspis-bearing cavalry appeared in Pergamon as elsewhere in the Greek world by the late 3rd and early 2nd century BC (see the description of the (Attalid) Aspidophoroi). That the Kyzikan army followed this trend is proven by the stela of Stratonike, daughter of Apollonios, dated to circa the last third of the 2nd century BC and now kept in Basel. While Stratonike herself can be seen in the upper half of the stela, the lower half portrays a rider and a Hoplite. The horseman clearly carries an Aspis shield, alongside a Linothorax and possibly a (Phrygo-)Boiotian helmet. The Kyzikans supported Pergamon until the end of the kingdom in 133 BC and would have done so with citizen infantry and cavalry as well as a fleet. The Aspidophoroi were well-trained cavalrymen, adapted to the challenges of the time, and should not be underestimated.