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Short description

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

Description

The Prodromoi or ‘scouts’ were a generic type of cavalry, commonly found throughout the Greek world who, armed as mounted javelin men, took on the roles of scouts and couriers in the armies of the Greek city-states.

Most Prodromoi wore neither body armour nor helmets. Their principal weapon was a 6 foot long javelin, consistent with the fact that the chief role of these cavalry was the harassment of the enemy when encountered on 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

Alexander the Great keenly used Prodromoi in his campaigns and promoted them to a sort of elite unit. He recruited them widely from among his Macedonian and Greek subjects, as well as from among Thracians and Paeonians, using them on special assignments as elite troops. At the battle of the Granikos in 331 BC they were among those troops that initiated the battle. Here they fulfilled one of their main roles, to absorb the momentum of the enemy charge, allowing Alexander to counter charge with fresher troops (Arrian, Anab. 1.14.6; CE 42). These forces also drew volleys of javelins upon themselves, and were able to keep numerically superior enemy cavalry occupied. Mainly, however, they were always important scouts and were used as such on the eve of Gaugamela (Arrian. Anab. 1.15.1-5; 3.7.7-8.2), as well as during the subsequent pursuit of Dareios (Arrian. Anab. 3.18.1; 1.21.2).

Although Alexander obviously made excellent use of Prodromoi as mounted skirmishers, they are reported as early as 390 BC in Athens. There, in contrast to the Hippeis, the Prodromoi were recruited from among the Thetes, the lowest socio-economic class (Xen. Hipparch. I, 25). Hence, they lacked the means to pay for their own equipment – like the Hippeis did – and were armed by the state, instead (Xen. Hipparch. I, 22-23). Alternatively, rich nobles would buy weapons for the Prodromoi, as we know from an example from 3rd century Athens. In 218/217 BC, the incumbent Hipparchos Theophrastos spent ten mina (= 1000 drachmae) on the equipment of the Athenian cavalry (IG II² 1303, l. 15-16). The sum, though impressive for an individual, would not have been enough to cover the costs of the Hippeis armour.

As with the unarmoured infantry skirmisher units, the men of the Prodromoi may not just have been taken from among the poorer parts of society as in Athens, but also from the young. A funerary epigram from Aphrodisias in Caria, dated to ca. 100 BC, mentions a certain Epikrates, “still a young man”, who was praised for taking part in activities typical for the Ephebes or Neoi, the military training for the teenage citizens of a Polis (Chaniotis 2009, epigram 473 with n. 14). The Ephebes of Aphrodisias apparently trained in the Palaestra, with spears, shields, bows and as “halters of young horses”. It seems to have been common, not just among the Greek cities of Asia Minor, that Ephebes would also take over service as mounted guards on the borders of the Chora, the Polis’ territory. It is highly likely that they were basically Prodromoi, as Ephebes were armed by the state and could well fight in battles if it was for the defence of the Chora (Pleket, Ephebes and Horses 2012, p. 326).