Perrhaibian Cavalry
Missile Cavalry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
Perrhaibian horsemen from Thessaly are trained to fight both as skirmishers and in melee, and serve the Ptolemaic kings as mercenaries.
Description
These horsemen hail from Perrhaibia, part of the broader region of Thessaly in central Greece. The Perrhaibians are armed with javelins and spears. Most are protected by bronze helmets (and some by greaves), but what they really stand out for are their red cloaks with white borders, as well as their unusual rectangular shields. While primarily suited for skirmishing, these horsemen are also trained to fight in melee. They have therefore been hired in considerable numbers as mercenaries by the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. Since Thessaly is under Antigonid control at the start date of RIS, they can also appear in Macedonian armies – unless the Thessalians finally stand up to fight for their freedom. If they do, the Perrhaibians will be ready for battle!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Perrhaibians (Περραιβοί) were an ancient Greek tribe that dwelled on the western and southwestern slopes of Mount Olympos, on the outskirts of Thessaly. During the time of Homer in the early archaic era, they were autonomous (Hom. Il. 2, 749), but by the classical period they had become tributary perioikoi of Larisa, the chief city of Thessaly (Thuc. 4.78.6; Strab. 9.5.19). Yet, they preserved two votes in the Delphic Amphictyony, the council responsible for the management of the panhellenic sanctuary and oracle of Delphi. They lost one of these votes when Philip II brought them under Macedonian rule in the mid 4th century BC, and remained part of that kingdom in the 3rd century BC, when the early RIS campaign unfolds (Errington, s.v. Perrhaiboi, in: DNP online). After defeat in the 2nd Roman-Macedonian War, the Antigonids ceded control of Pherrhaibia in 196 BC and the region regained its freedom after more than 300 years under foreign rule (Polyb. 18,46,5; 18,47,6). Fifty years later, however, after a period of poverty and turmoil (Liv. 42.5.1-9) the Pherrhaibian League chose to join the Thessalian League. Either now, or much later - under Augustus - the Perrhaibians lost their last vote in the Amphictiony (Paus. 10.8.4-5 does not mention them among the full members of the organisation).
Even today, Perrhaibia is a region of mountain forests surrounding a small valley, sparsely settled and its name forgotten to almost anyone but the locals. Yet, on the southern end of the plain towards Larisa, one finds a bountiful stretch of land on which ancient Phalanna stood, the capital of Perrhaibia in antiquity (as in RIS). Several sacred officials and treasurers of Delphi hailed from Phalanna, and the city was fought over in the early stages of the third Roman-Macedonian War in 171 BC (Liv. 42.54.6; 65.1). Other towns of the Perrhaibians may have been Gonnos, Chyretiai and the Tripolis of Azoros, Doliche and Pythion (Errington, Perrhaiboi).
On the other side of the Eastern Mediterranean, in Sidon in Phoenicia, a city much more famous than Perrhaibia, they make a surprise appearance. In the 3rd century BC, the city was part of the Ptolemaic kingdom and a garrison was stationed here. RIS’ historians and artists will be forever grateful to the Sidon garrison, because they invested a lot of time painting colourful images of themselves on stelae. One of these soldiers was a man who called himself Eunostidas, son of Nikanor, a Perrhaibian. In the image, he wears a red tunic and a red coat with white borders. Next to him stands his squire, who holds two javelins and a peculiar, small and rectangular shield with a boss in the shape of a Labrys (double axe). On his head, a bronze helmet can be made out. Though there is no horse, the fact that Eunostidas could afford a squire or groom who would carry his equipment around strongly speaks for his noble origin and the helmet bears some resemblance to a Boiotian helmet, the standard helmet of Greek horsemen (though it also has some similarities to a Konos helmet and Angus MacBride (Sidon Stelae fig. 12) thought it was a Sidon A helmet known from other stelae; therefore, we have opted to give them a mix of those three). The Perrhaibians have been depicted as a flexible cavalry unit that can both skirmish and fight in melee, but their lack of body armour (though some have greaves, as Eunostidas does in an Angus McBride reconstruction) means they will inevitably lose out to heavier mounted troops if not kept at a proper distance.