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Short description

The reformed household cavalry of Egypt protects the Pharaoh and his family and fights in the style of Xystophoroi.

Description

The Therapeia cavalry represents the mounted household guard of the Ptolemaic kings. Their appearance betrays their role: the saffron-yellow chlamys (cloak) with purple borders, long sleeved Persian dress, brown boots and golden headgear for the horses is as costly as magnificent. They are protected by plumed Thracian helmets and bronze muscle cuirasses, while they will charge with a deadly xyston. A sword on a baldric is available for prolonged melee. These picked men will defend the lives of their king and his relatives as if it were their own!

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Therapeia were the Household troops of the Ptolemaic Empire, forming a guard that protected the Pharaoh-King in Alexandria and, if needed, on campaign. Papyri describe regiments "at the court" (περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν), which might have included bodyguards and ceremonial troops (Fischer-Bovet, Army and Society (2014), p. 150). The Hellenistic historian Polybios of Megalopolis (ca. 200-118 BC) mentions the θεραπεία and the troops περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν ("around the court") together (Polyb. XV, 25a, 17), and they are thus represented by a single unit. The household regiments seem to have consisted of both infantry and cavalry, forming a reliable elite force. They were arguably not as battle-hardened as the Basilikon Agema or, respectively, the Agema of the Hippeis, but still equipped with the best weapons and armour available, and trained under the supervision of the king himself. At the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC, the Therapeia cavalry numbered 700 men, and was under the command of Polykrates of Argos (Polyb. V, 65, 5), who had only recently arrived from Greece and may have been responsible for reforming the regiment (Polyb. V, 64, 4).

Before this time, the Therapeia and cavalry at the court appeared like a soldier on a stela from Alexandria (Funerary Stela of a Soldier on Horseback, Alexandria, Graeco-Roman Museum Inv. 10228, ca. 300 BC): white chiton, brown boots, a saffron-yellow chlamys with purple borders, composite cuirass, plumed Boiotian helmet, sword on a baldric and Xyston. Some of the stelae of Ptolemaic Hippeis fitted as Xystophoroi show them with blue Linothorakes and belted tunics (Funerary Stela of a Man on Horseback, Alexandria, Graeco-Roman Museum, Inv. 22116, 3rd century BC), and this is represented in both the early and the late Therapeia unit. However, in the late 3rd century BC, either under Polykrates or someone else, the Therapeia was retrained to be more efficient. Now, they were equipped with traditional bronze muscle cuirasses instead of composite cuirasses, a long sleeved Persian dress that had once been introduced by Philip II of Macedon, but rarely used after 300 BC (Sekunda, Ptolemaic Army (1995), p. 75) – maybe to protect the riders against the desert sand of Egypt – and plumed Thracian helmets instead of the old Boiotian helmets. All of this is attested on the wall-painting of the so-called Mustafa Pasha Tomb in Alexandria, dating to the mid to late third century BC. The artists depicted three Graeco-Macedonian cavalrymen pouring libations at an altar and wearing the clothes, weapons and armour described above.

Finally, Fischer-Bovet (2014, 148-150) has suggested, apparently following one of the speculative theories of Nick Sekunda, that the Therapeia cavalry was equipped with Aspis shields. There is, however, no evidence on this. Neither shielded (Graeco-Macedonian) cavalry nor shielded cavalry with the two handed Xyston appear in the sources, and indeed Fischer-Bovet says as much herself (2014, p. 131). Therefore, the idea can be safely dismissed.

As the case of the mercenary commander Polykrates of Argos at Raphia shows, the Therapeia had a very heterogeneous makeup. Bravery, skill and loyalty mattered above all else. The Hippeis in Egypt, usually armed as Xystophoroi, included several ‘ethnic’ regiments, such as the Persians, the Thracians, the Macedonians and "the Thessalians and the other Greeks" (CPR XVIII 10, l. 197). However, these names did not imply any differences in equipment, and at least the names of the Persian and Macedonian squadrons were even unrelated to ethnic origin. In fact, they only stood for different military statuses (Fischer-Bovet, Army and Society (2014), p. 161; 192). Most of these designations only appear after 235 BC, and their introduction may have been part of the reform (Fischer-Bovet (2014), pp. 126-128). Yet, the names do imply that the Ptolemies recruited from far and wide, and the Therapeia will have been made up of Macedonians, Greeks, Carians, Lycians, Mysians, Thracians; and possibly Jews and Egyptians. All of these men signed up to dedicate their lives to the Pharaoh of Egypt, serving as a loyal bodyguard.