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Short description

These experienced Galatian warriors are equipped with Iranian and Greek gear and pose a formidable obstacle to any attacker.

Description

These men are experienced warriors who have proven their bravery and steadfastness in battle. Equipped with costly Iranian and Greek weapons and armour, they are well protected and difficult to overcome.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Galatians arrived in Asia Minor in 278 BC. On their trek through the Balkans and Greece, they had already adopted cultural, military and political features from the peoples they met while migrating to the east: from Illyrians to Thracians and Greeks. At the same time, they influenced their neighbours and enemies in return, as can be seen by the rise of the Thureophoroi as the dominant infantry type of Greece. However, Galatian society remained genuinely Celtic even by the time they had reached Asia. Even in the late 3rd and early 2nd century BC Polybios still reports a council of petty kings both among the Allobroges in Southern Gaul (Polyb. III, 50, 2–3) and the Galatians in Anatolia (Polyb. XXI, 37, 8–9; XXI, 39, 4), showing that the wandering Celts had kept the political institutions of their home country.

However, major changes also happened during the same time period. Having been defeated by Antiochos I and his elephants in 275 BC (though Coşkun, Elephant Victory 2012, doubts it ever happened), the Galatians entered the orbit of the Seleucid Empire. While they certainly did not become vassals of the Seleucid kings, they often fought against the enemies of the Seleucids in Western Asia Minor and served as mercenaries in the armies of the largest Diadochoi states. It should thus come as no surprise that many Galatians “upgraded” their armour and weapons with Greek and Iranian equipment.

Hence, at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, when the royal council of the Galatians had sent a contingent of warriors to support the Seleucids against the Roman and Attalid forces, the Roman historian Livy has the following to say about their forces: “ab laevo cornu phalangitis adiuncti erant Gallograeci pedites mille et quingenti et similiter his armati duo milia Cappadocum (…)” - “Next to the left flank of the phalanx, stood one thousand five hundred Gallograecian footmen, and two thousand Cappadocians, (which were sent by king Ariarathes,) wearing the same kind of armour” (Liv. XXXVII, 40, 9). Though some read this mention and the one in 40, 5 as equites instead of pedites (they could also be different units, as the one mentioned in 40, 5 is stationed on the right wing, the one in 40, 9 on the left), this seems unnecessary. Livy’s wording “Gallo-Greek” and the comparison with the heavy infantry of King Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia reveals the character of these Galatian troops: they must have been heavy spearmen with mixed Hellenic and Iranian equipment. Thanks to their mercenary service or temporary alliances with the Seleucid Empire, they may even have been actively equipped by Antiochos III and his ministers.