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Short description

Having been retrained by Philopoimen, the Achaian Xystophoroi can now keep up with the best of their kind.

Description

Carrying a long two-pointed wooden lance, the xyston, from which they have derived their name, these Achaian Xystophoroi rely on the devastating effect of a rapid charge rather than on heavy armour or shields. Having been retrained by Philopoimen, they can now keep up with the best of their kind. Their bridles have been silvered over in order to symbolise their new qualities.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Xystophoroi were the cavalry introduced into Greek warfare by Philip II and his son Alexander the Great of Macedon. They were named after the xyston, a wooden lance of 3.5 to 4.25m length with two pointy ends (the exact length remains a topic of hot debate among historians, however, cf. Bugh, Greek Cavalry 2020, pp. 73-74). Rather than to rely on heavy armour and shields like the horsemen of e.g. Celts or Thracians, the Xystophoroi relied on the devastating effect of a rapid charge with their long lances. Alexander used them to great effect and his Hetairoi were armed in the same way. Impressed by the successes of Alexander’s cavalry, most Greeks soon swapped their cavalry spears for the longer lances - including the Achaians (Head, Armies 1982, p. 117).

However, equipment is not everything and the Achaians soon realised that fighting with a sarissa on horseback was not much easier than using it in the Macedonian phalanx – which they also only adopted much later (cf. description of Achaian phalangites). Therefore, they were not very efficient on the battlefield and it would take until the reforms of Philopoimen of Megalopolis (253-183/182 BC) in 207 BC to address their weaknesses. The historian Polybios (ca. 200-118 BC), himself a former cavalry officer of the Achaian League, gives the following account (Polyb. X, 22, 6-7; 23, 1-8):

“6 Being appointed by the Achaians to the command of the cavalry at this time and finding the regiments in every way disorganised and the men dispirited, 7 he made them in a short time not only superior to what they had been but superior to the enemy by submitting them to a course of real training and inspiring them with such zeal as could not fail to ensure success (...) 23, 1 The movements in which he thought the cavalry should be trained, as being applicable to all circumstances, were as follows. 2 Each separate horseman must learn to wheel his horse to the left or to the right and also to wheel round and again return. 3 In sections and double sections they were to wheel so as to describe either a quarter, a half, or three-quarters of a circle and next to dash out at full speed from either of the wings or from the centre in single or double companies and then reining in to resume their formation in troops, squadrons, or regiments. 5 Besides this they must be able to extend their line on either wing either by filling up intervals or by bringing up men from the rear. 6 He considered that deployment by wheeling required no practice, as it was much the same thing as falling into marching order. 7 After this they were to practise charging and retiring in every kind of formation until they could advance at a tremendous pace but without falling out of line or column, keeping at the same time the proper distances between the squadrons, 8 as he considered that nothing was more dangerous or ineffectual than cavalry which have broken their order in squadrons and choose to engage the enemy while in this state.”

Polybios describes the division of the cavalry into Hipparchiai, Ilai and Oulamoi after the role model of the Boiotian League. The Boiotians had a much greater horse riding tradition than the Achaians and may have shared some of their experiences with their neighbours as early as the mid-3rd century when the two Koina fostered amiable relations. In any case, Philopoimen apparently trained the Xystophoroi to keep up with the manoeuvres of other Greek horsemen and helped to make them a much more efficient unit. Plutarch, in his biography of Philopoimen, which was based on Polybios’ lost biography of his hero, adds that they also silvered over their bridles from now on to symbolise their new qualities (Plut. Philopoimen 9, 5). Aside from the eye candy, the equipment of the Achaians did not change, but it proved a valuable part of the federal army from now on.