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Short description

These well-trained Sinopian hoplites, armed with spear and shield, are the elite soldiers of their city state.

Description

Sinopian Epilektoi are the infantry elite of their city. They fight with dory spears and carry large wooden aspis shields covered with bronze. Any attack that gets past this shield is not a guaranteed hit, as these soldiers wear linothorax armour. The diverse foreign influences thanks to trading activities are reflected in their helmets. Some of the men wear bronze Pilos helmets with wide brims that shade the eyes; others wear large Thracian helmets with cheekpieces, or more evolved Konos helmets. Sinopian Epilektoi are shock troops. They should seek out and destroy enemy infantry or cavalry. Although they are picked soldiers, they lack the true elite skills of the Epilektoi of more warlike city states.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The city of Sinope (Σινώπη) was founded in the late 7th century BC by Ionian settlers from Miletos (Strab. 12.3.11). Before this colonisation others had already settled here, as it was a strategic location on the thin neck of a peninsula. The peninsula made for a valuable natural harbour that shielded ships from storms on the Euxine (Black Sea). Sinope is, furthermore, situated at the closest point of Asia Minor to Tauris (Crimea).

No wonder that Sinope became the biggest colony on the Pontic coast. They had one of the largest navies in the Black Sea and controlled fishing and trade together with Byzantion (Polyaen 7.21.2; Xen. Anab. 5.6.1). Sinope itself founded the colonies Armene, Kerasous, Kotyora, and Trapezous along the coast (Diod. 14.31.1). A valuable dark reddish-brown pigment for painting, mined in Cappadocia, was traded through the harbour of Sinope. Hence, it became known as Sinopia (Plin: HN 35.31). Strabo, the Pontic Greek geographer from nearby Amaseia, tells us that the land “furnishes timber of excellent quality for shipbuilding, and is easily conveyed away. The territory of Sinope produces the maple, and the mountain nut tree, from which wood for tables is cut” (Strab. 12.3.12). This wood was also valuable for manufacturing aspis shields.

Hoplites are defined by these large concave shields. They were held by an armband (porpax) right before the left elbow, while the hand gripped a leather handle (antilabe). This enabled the hoplites to support its weight (on average 6.2 kg or 13.7 pounds) using both the elbow and the wrist. Furthermore, the size of the shield allowed the hoplite to rest it on his shoulder (Fink, The Battle of Marathon (2014), pp. 31-34). That is, if the size of the shield was made for the size of the person using it. The shield was not very thick, making it not as effective against arrows and javelins (Ibid.). A further weakness was the inability to switch the shield to the right arm if needed. Hoplites had to depend on the man to their right for cover. Therefore, the units at the far-right of the phalanx formation were very vulnerable.

For attack, hoplites used dory spears made out of ash or cornel wood. Sinopians could also manufacture them out of the local pine trees, although these formed lesser-quality spears (Robinson, Ancient Sinope First Part (1906), p. 129; Fink (2014), p. 34). For close fights they could use their xiphos swords. This secondary weapon was often needed as the thin shaft of the spear, measuring 25mm (0.98 inches) in the middle and only 19mm at the ends to fit into the sockets of the bronze spearhead and the butt-spike, often broke. The spear could not penetrate shield or armour “unless it struck the face under the chin or in the space between the neck collar and chest armor” (ibid., p. 36). While the spears were mainly used to attack from above (overhand grip), hoplites could also use them to attack the legs if they switched to an underhand grip. Hoplites generally favoured the overhand grip displayed in RIS, though, as it could unleash more energy (Gabriel and Metz, From Sumer to Rome (1991), pp. 59-60).

Sinope could not field a large army and, thus, had to rely on a small, efficient force like the Epilektoi. Epilektoi could be composed of permanent citizen infantry, wealthy young men, or veterans (Tritle, Phocian the Good (2014), pp. 77-78). As history showed, this shock infantry was needed to hold back empires and tribes eying the rich lands of Sinope.

In 400 BC, Xenophon and the ten thousand mercenaries, among them thousands of elite hoplites, received ships from the Sinopians on their way back from the doomed campaign in Babylonia (Xen. Anab. 5.5.8.- 5.6.31). The Sinopians wanted to transport the lingering mercenary army away from the trade routes as fast as possible. In 375 BC and 368 BC, the Persian satrap of Cappadocia besieged the city twice in order to have a degree of influence. Aeneas Tacticus recounts in ‘How to Survive under Siege’ (40.4-5) that the women of Sinope dressed in armour and clanged pots in order to deceive the Persians into thinking that the forces defending the city were much larger than they were in reality. This anecdote clearly illustrates that Sinope could not field a large army. Despite Iranian and Anatolian political influences, the cults and institutions of Sinope remained Milesian. In the same manner, Sinope was never fully integrated into the Empire of Alexander the Great.

Mithridates II of Pontos tested the formidable defences of Sinope in 220 BC. Polybius writes that the city “is built upon a peninsula jutting out into the sea: it is on the neck of this peninsula, connecting it with Asia, which is not more than two stades wide, that the city is so placed as to entirely close it up from sea to sea; the rest of the peninsula stretches out into the open sea, a piece of flat land from which the town is easily accessible, but surrounded by a steep coast offering very bad harbourage, and having exceedingly few spots admitting of disembarkation. The Sinopeans then were dreadfully alarmed lest Mithridates should blockade them, by throwing up works against their town on the side towards Asia, and by making a descent on the opposite side upon the low ground in front of the town: and they accordingly determined to strengthen the line of the peninsula, where it was washed by the sea, by putting up wooden defences and erecting palisades round the places accessible from the sea; and at the same time by storing weapons and stationing guards at all points open to attack: for the whole area is not large, but is capable of being easily defended and by a moderate force.” (Polyb. IV, 56, 5-8) These steep cliffs and choke points ensured that any timely discovered attacks could be repulsed by a dense phalanx formation. In order to outfit enough men, their Rhodian allies sent a thousand suits of linothorax armour. (Polyb. IV, 56). The Sinopians, with the help from others such as the Koans, repulsed the siege (SEG 48.1097).

Pharnakes I of Pontos eventually captured the city by surprise in 183 BC, despite Rhodes pleading the Roman senate to help Sinope (Livy XL.2.6, 9, 1). Under Pontic rule Sinope became the capital city of that kingdom (Memn. 26, 3). The Pontic army Hellenised during this century and the elite Epilektoi, loyal to their Pontic overlords, lived on in the Pontic Guard, fighting in a similar fashion as their forefathers (Eutropius 6.8). The Roman Consul Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus conquered and greatly damaged Sinope in 70 BC (Memn. 37, 8). Sinope ultimately lost its dominant position under Roman rule, as it was too remote to remain competitive against the Roman highway system that directed trade to the Ionic coast (Robinson (1906): p. 138).