Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

The elite horsemen of Priene are armed like the Hetairoi of Macedon, but they do not fight for a tyrannical king, but for an egalitarian polis, where everyone really counts.

Description

These horsemen are the professional cavalry force of Priene, a small, but famous polis in Ionia which controls the Panionion, the most sacred place of Ionian Greek culture. Armed like the Hetairoi of the Hellenistic kingdoms, the Hippotrophoi are a deadly force and played a crucial role in the Prienian-Galatian War (278/277 BC), which ended in the Galatians’ only defeat during their first two years in Asia. The radical democracy thus survived once more, and its Hippotrophoi continue to breed their horses and to prepare them for war – all paid for by the state. They are armed with lance (xyston) and machaira (a curved sword), wearing cloaks, linen or metal cuirasses, and Boiotian, Phrygo-Boiotian or Pilos helmets. Together with the Epilektoi infantry and Priene’s mighty walls, they will keep the city safe and assure that other invaders will suffer the same fate as the Galatians.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Priene was founded in times immemorial, and quickly became one of the most famous poleis in the ancient Greek world. We have written about its early history in the descriptions of the Prienian Hoplites and Epilektoi, so it must suffice here to sum up some key notes. Transformed into a Greek city in the 8th century BC, Priene quickly joined the Ionian League and guarded the Koinon’s central sanctuary, the Panionion, despite its rivalry with two other members, Samos and Miletos. When the Maeander River silted up Priene’s harbour, the Polis lost importance in the 5th century BC, but it recovered in the 4th when it was moved to a new spot on the slopes of Mount Mykale on the northern shores of the Latmiam Gulf, opposite of Miletos. The new city was rebuilt according to the Hippodamian grid plan and controlled one of the most fertile stretches of land known to the Greeks.

The renewed Polis had its autonomy confirmed by Alexander (GHI 86b = IPriene² 1; Badian, Alexander the Great and the Greeks in Asia (1966), pp. 47-48) and continued to be governed by a radical democracy in which foreigners, women and slaves had far more rights than elsewhere (I.Priene 5.1–2, Gray, Beyond the Classical Polis (2022), p. 212). In 283/282 BC, Lysimachos had to arbitrate in another conflict between Priene and Samos to avoid a major war (IPriene 37). Other, greater threats were on the horizons: Lysimachos was killed in battle at Kurupedion by Seleukos I in 281 BC and when the Prienians failed to congratulate the victor, they were quickly forced under Seleucid power (Lund, Lysimachus (2002), p. 207). Yet, Seleukos was killed by Ptolemy Keraunos soon after, who in turn was slain by the Galatians. Having wrought havoc to Greece and Macedon, the ‘barbarians’ were invited by the Northern League, an anti-Seleucid coalition led by Bithynia, Herakleia Pontike and Byzantion, to come to Asia in 279 BC (Memnon F 11.1–3). Though Priene remained in the Seleucid sphere, thanks to the activity of its diplomat Larichos (OGIS 215 = IPriene 57–59), the new Seleucid king, Antiochos I, was far away, Ptolemaios II was busy in Egypt, and the mighty cities of Ephesos, Pergamon and Miletos hid behind their walls when the Northern League leaned back and unleashed the horde on Asia Minor. While villages were burned down, peasants and their families killed and sanctuaries pillaged, only one faction was brave enough to confront the invaders on the battlefield: Priene (OGIS 765 = IPriene 17, ll. 1–16).Sotas, son of Lykos, one of the most renowned citizens of the city, assembled the Epilektoi, the cream of the cavalry (the Hippotrophoi, literally “horse breeders”) and all volunteers from the countryside, which had already suffered from raids, and at first evacuated the farms to move all citizens behind the safe walls of Priene (IPriene 17, ll. 16–24). He then occupied all elevations in the Polis' chora (territory) and whenever Galatians were sighted, he sent out a part of his force to attack them, thus saving many barnyards and most of the peasants who had remained on the fields. When news of his successes reached the city, most of the remaining citizens took up arms and Sotas was able to form a sizeable army. When a greater Galatian force arrived, the Prienians emerged victorious (OGIS 765 = IPriene 17, ll. 25– 37). Frustrated by their losses and defeats, the Galatians moved on to the south and east, continuing to plunder until Tlos in Lycia became the second city to take the fight to them and defeat them – the end of the great Galatian raids of the early 270s (SEG 54.1442).

While the Swiss archaeologist Erich Kistler (Funktionalisierte Keltenbilder (2009), p. 33) rightly points out that the Galatians were not given enough food and money by the Northern League to take care of their families and were thus forced to take whatever they could get their hands on, the Prienians contributed much to the image of the terror of the north. The inscription on the fine marble stele the Prienians later erected for Sotas speaks of "paranomia", sins against both mankind and the gods (IPriene 17, ll. 10–11) and portrays the Galatians as bloodthirsty monsters. The Hippotrophoi had played a starring role in the city’s defence: according to line 18 in the inscription, they were a main part of his army (cf. Burstein, Ipsos (1985), p. 23). They would have been financed by public taxes and served as the standing army of Priene, together with the Epilektoi (John Ma, Fighting poleis of the hellenistic world (2009), p. 344). By breeding horses, they formed an own class – despite its emphasis on egality, some aristocrats apparently still existed in Priene, since it was always aristocrats who supplied the cavalry in times of war (Thonemann, Hellenistic Age (2018), p. 98). Kolophon, one of Priene's Ionian neighbours, also had its own Hippotrophoi, who were paid for by the state (Mauerbauinschriften no 70., l. 32; 83). The cavalrymen probably had to raise their own horses, but as professional soldiers they received regular wages from the state which also covered the costs for breeding and keeping horses (Ma (2009), p. 344). As such, their life was devoted to their horses and war, and they would undoubtedly have formed an elite within the Prienian army.

The victorious polis continued to thrive in the next two centuries, until it was befallen by one of the strangest misfortunes in ancient history: around 170 BC, a teenage boy called Orophernes arrived in Priene, sent by queen Antiochis of Cappadocia. He had been ousted from the royal house as his mother may not have been his real mother and favoured Orophernes' younger son Mithradatas, the later king Ariarathes V. When the father of the two, Ariarathes IV, died in 160 BC, Orophernes tried to seize the throne with Seleucid support. In 157 BC, he promised 1,000 talents to Demetrios, and the Seleucid army installed him on the Cappadocian throne. Civil war loomed, but with Roman arbitration, the kingdom was split into two, one ruled by Ariarathes, one by Orophernes (Liv. per. 47, App. Syr. 47, Zon. 9.24). On the way back from Rome, Orophernes' envoys twice tried to assassinate Ariarathes, but in both Korkyra and Corinth, their plans were discovered and thwarted (Diod. 31.32b). Orophernes did not prove to be a popular king, and he only managed to pay 600 talents of the promised sum to Demetrios (Diod. 31.32). Ironically, the Cappadocians thought that his stay in Priene had turned him into a degenerate – much like what the Prienians thought of their Milesian rivals – and that his Ionian debauchery was unfitting for the Cappadocian throne (Athen. 10.440b = Polyb. 32.11. 10). Orophernes was sensing that he might lose his throne and deposited 400 talents in Priene to have an insurance against a change of fortune (Polyb. 33.6.2, Diod. 31.32). Soon after, he had completely run out of money and robbed the temple of Zeus at the mountain of Ariadne to pay his soldiers (Diod. 31.34). Yet, this sacrilegious act convinced most Cappadocians that it was time to get rid of Orophernes and he was cast out of his realm.

Orophernes returned to Antioch in the hope that Demetrios would once more invade Cappadocia on his behest. But when Demetrios delayed the expedition, the impatient Orophernes caused the populace of Antioch to rebel against the king, for which he was imprisoned (Iust. 35.1-4). Orophernes probably died in jail, but the story does not end here: Ariarathes had now gained control over all of Cappadocia and needed money to secure his position. He remembered the 400 talents in Priene and wrote to the council of the city to hand back the money. The Prienians replied that Orophernes was still alive, however, and that Ariarathes had no right to take it. In Rome, the Achaian prisoner and historian Polybios was observing the events from afar and judged that the Prienians were right (Polyb. 33.6.2–5). But Ariarathes reacted angrily to their reply and dispatched a letter to Attalos II of Pergamon (r. 159–138 BC) to help him recover the money. Pergamon and Priene had an otherwise unknown conflict at the time and Attalos therefore granted the Cappadocians military access and military support. The Cappadocian army marched almost 1000km westwards to attack Cappadocia and was reinforced by Attalid contingents (Polyb. 33.6.6). Vastly outnumbered, the Prienians decided to hide behind their walls this time and had to watch how their territory was devastated, their slaves and cattle stolen, and their farmsteads burnt down. In their despair, they sent an embassy to Rhodes for support, but the Rhodians felt unable to help. Next, they turned to Rome, but the senate, too, ignored their pleas – both Rome and Rhodes were close allies of Pergamon (Polyb. 33.6.7–8). With no hope for relief, the Prienians paid back the money and accepted Pergamene overlordship over their land (Diod. 31.32). The city only regained its freedom after the fall of the Attalid monarchy in 129 BC. The silting of the Maeander would threaten Priene’s new location, too, and by the 1st century AD the port of Priene was closing again (Müllenhoff, Geoarchäologische Untersuchungen, 2005). Yet, Priene survived into the Middle Ages, and today, it is one of the best preserved ancient Greek cities.

The Hippotrophoi are perfectly equipped to deliver a lethal charge on the battlefield. As well-paid soldiers, they would have been able to afford shiny metal muscle cuirasses or reinforced linen cuirasses (linothorakes), greaves and up-to-date helmets such as the Pilos, the Boiotian (some of them are plumed) or the Phrygo-Boiotian types. The Boiotian forms of helmets were especially popular with Greek cavalry in general (Snodgrass, Arms and Armour of the Greeks (1967), p. 94 and 125). Reddish cloaks symbolise the position of the Hippotrophoi as a unit selected for their bravery and skills, and they fight with a long xyston (lance) and machaira (a curved sword) like the cavalry of Alexander the Great (cf. Gabriel, The Madness of Alexander (2015), p. 35).