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Short description

These Kyzikan Hoplites fight for the freedom and wealth of their city, and for Kore Soteira, the protector goddess of the good.

Description

These soldiers are the citizen Hoplites of Kyzikos, an Ionian Greek city on the southern coast of the Propontis. They are protected by linothorakes with pteryges, Boiotian helmets and aspis shields. They fight with a dory spear in the phalanx or with a kopis, a popular type of curved sword, in melee. The Kyzikan Hoplites wear military boots, cloaks, and typical Ionian clothes, while their shields are painted with symbols that represent Kyzikos, such as a tripod with a flame which appears on Kyzikan coins. Thanks to its wealth and strong fleet, Kyzikos is a regional power in northwestern Asia Minor, and its Hoplites will defend it to the death.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Kyzikos was a Milesian colony on an island in northwestern Asia Minor, on the coast of Mysia. If we were to describe the ancient Kyzikans in one word, it would be "f***in rich" – okay, I admit it, that was two words. Why, you may wonder, and I will give the word to good old Strabo of Amaseia (ca. 63 BC-25 AD), the Greek geographer (12.8.11):

"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. (...) 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."

The Kyzikans made the most of the natural advantages of their city and mostly preserved their independence throughout the centuries, not least due to a strong navy. This allowed them to continuously increase their wealth, and they became experts not only in making money, but also in producing it. The famous Kyzikan gold staters were of such high quality that they became one of the main currencies of the Aegean, Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, especially in the period before the coinage of Philip II and Alexander became available (Dueck, Illiterate Geography (2021), p. 117; Pope, The Ancient Greeks (1976), p. 9). Even though the staters were actually made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, this was seemingly no issue, and the Athenians at the height of their power used them for state payments and tributes (Kallet/Kroll, The Athenian Empire (2020), p. 43).

One of the most prominent images on the Kyzikan coinage in the Hellenistic period, during which the RIS campaign is set, was the so called Kore Soteira, "the young woman who saves" (the city, people). According to legend, Zeus had given Kyzikos to the Kore, the divine personification of virtuous young women, and her temenos (sacred precinct) was a crucial part of the Polis. A mystery cult of Kore existed in Kyzikos from early on and statues and busts of her were set up all over the city (Rigsby, Asylia (1997), p. 341). Over time, her appearance on coins was increasingly aligned with that of the Delphinian Apollo because she was the protector goddess of Kyzikos and because, like Delphi, her sanctuary had the power to grant asylia (Matthaei, Münzbild (2006), p. 112). Asylia was the origin of our modern idea of asylum, but not quite like it: it mainly referred to the sacred safety of the sanctuaries, which no one should violate in war or politics, but it could also be granted to individuals or groups of people who fled to these sanctuaries and sought protection against personal enemies, pirates or brigands (Hornblower/Larsen, s.v. Asylia, Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2015).

Pride in its wealth and its coinage, the Kore Soteira, the Milesian origin, and Ionian traditions were the civic virtues of Kyzikos, and it is for these virtues that the Kyzikans fought. That they still went to war as Hoplites in the Hellenistic period is attested by the stele of Stratonike, daughter of Apollonios, who died in the last third of the 2nd century BC. While the upper part of the stele shows three civilians, including the late Stratonike, the lower part depicts a horseman and an infantry soldier, both armed with aspis shields. The Hoplite wears a linothorax and a Boiotian helmet, which was uncommon for Hoplites as it was usually used by cavalry (Xen. Hipp. 12.3). Perhaps the newly armed aspis cavalry of Kyzikos would sometimes dismount and fight in the traditional way as Hoplites. A cloak and possibly military boots can also be made out on the stela, and we have added a kopis, a common Hoplite sword (Bardunias/Ray, Hoplites at War (2016), pp. 22-23) to complete the equipment.

Horsemen and Hoplites together usually sufficed to defend Kyzikos from any land based threats. This also seems to have been the case in 278 BC, when the Galatians came to Kyzikos for the first time. A monument erected in this or the next year depicts Herakles himself killing a cowering Celt with his club. The inscription highlights the role of all the various military commanders of the Polis in repelling the 'Barbarians' (Harland, Celts: Kyzikos monument (2023); Gale, Hellenistic Galatians (2018), p. 102). As a thriving community that had survived various threats throughout the ages, Kyzikos would always continue to be defended by its citizens.