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Short description

Hailing from the mighty city of Selge in Pisidia, these slingers are a deadly threat and will fight 'till the very end.

Description

These slingers hail from Selge, the most powerful city of Pisidia. Its citizens are famous for their daring spirit, which won - and subsequently lost - them a small empire in southern central Anatolia in the Hellenistic period. They may not wear any body armour or shields, but with their excellent accuracy and deadly lead bullets they are a real threat from afar for most units. In melee, they will fight to the last with their effective xiphos swords. The increased morale over other slingers means that the slingers will not immediately break if met by cavalry, but they should always be protected by melee units.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Selge was a major city in southern Pisidia, on a fertile plateau 1000m above the Mediterranean sea. Its inhabitants grew olives and wine and collected styrax, a resin material similar to incense that was exported to Egypt (Plin. nat. hist. 15,31; 23,95. Javelins were also made out of the styrax according to Strab. 12.7.3C570, for whose usage see the Pisidian javelinmen unit). Strabo of Amaseia, who wrote a geographic description of the world in the time of Augustus, was clearly impressed by Selge's natural, political and military strength:

"Selgê was founded at first by the Lakedaimonians as a city, and still earlier by Kalchas; but later it remained an independent city, having waxed so powerful on account of the law‑abiding manner in which its government was conducted that it once contained twenty thousand men. And the nature of the region is wonderful, for among the summits of the Taurus there is a country which can support tens of thousands of inhabitants and is so very fertile that it is planted with the olive in many places, and with fine vineyards, and produces abundant pasture for cattle of all kinds; and above this country, all round it, lie forests of various kinds of timber." (Strab. 12.7.3C570)

It was also famous for the Selitian Oil, a popular medicine, similarly praised by Strabo and Pliny. All these exports would have made the Selgians a very rich community, and by the 4th century BC, they started to convert this wealth into political power. At this time, the coins of neighbouring Aspendos in Pamphylia begin to align with those of Selge, an indication of a submission under Selgian rule (SNG BN 47-9, 410 BC or slightly later; SNG BnF 115 var., very early 3rd century BC). When Alexander the Great advanced through the area on his conquest of the Persian Empire, Selge preserved its autonomy by establishing friendly relations with the king (Strab. 12.7.3C571). As Strabo emphasises:

"The region round the city and the territory of the Selgians has only a few approaches, since their territory is mountainous and full of precipices and ravines, which are formed, among other rivers, by the Eurymedon and the Kestros, which flow from the Selgic mountains and empty into the Pamphylian Sea. But they have bridges on their roads. Because of their natural fortifications, however, the Selgians have never even once, either in earlier or later times, become subject to others, but unmolested have reaped the fruit of the whole country except the part situated below them in Pamphylia and inside the Taurus, for which they were always at war with the kings." (Strab. 12.7.3C571)

These kings were the Seleucid and later the Attalid monarchs. The first major war occurred in 218 BC, when Selge attacked the city of Pednelissos. At the time, the pretender Achaios (r. 221-213 BC) controlled most of Seleucid Asia Minor west of the Taurus mountains. He had reduced the Attalid kingdom to a local power, and was the protector of Pednelissos. Upon hearing the news, he duly dispatched a force of 6,000 infantry and 500 horsemen to relieve Pednelissos (Polyb. v, 72, 1-3). The Seleucid commander Garsyeris called upon all Pisidian and Pamphylian cities that were as of yet free from Selgian rule to support him, and received 8,000 Hoplites from the Etennians as well as 4,000 men from Aspendos, who apparently tried to shake off the foreign yoke (Polyb. V, 72, 8-73,3). Next, Garsyeris picked 2,000 men and commanded them to transport grain and other supplies into Pednelissos at night, but they were intercepted by the Selgians and hacked to pieces (Polyb. V, 73, 6-7). The historian Polybios comments: "Elated by this success they now undertook to storm not only the city, but the amp of Garsyeris; for the Selgians always show a bold and dare-devil spirit in war." (Polyb. V, 73, 8). The Selgians subsequently surrounded the Seleucid camp, but a force of Arsyeris' cavalry managed to find a way around the enemy line and charged them from behind. Seeing this, the Seleucid infantry regained their courage, pressed back on the Selgians and won a famous victory. Polybios reports that the Selgians and their allies lost 10,000 men in this battle, which goes to show they must have had a very sizeable army at their disposal (Polyb. V, 73, 9-16).

Yet, many allies deserted the Selgians after the defeat, and Garsyeris proceeded to besiege the city. The Selgian council appointed a man called Logbasis to open negotiations with the Seleucid commander, but Logbasis was far more interested in gaining the favour of Achaios and offered to betray the city if the king himself should show up. Achaios agreed and ordered Logbasis to call the Selgians to a council, during which he would attack. A goat herd, however, noticed the Seleucid soldiers when they tried to climb the walls and the Selgians immediately realised what was happening. They killed Logbasis on the spot and then charged the Mysian mercenaries Garsyeris was commanding. When 700 of them had been slain, Achaios decided to stop the attack and retreat. The Selgians made a truce and agreed to pay 700 talents to Achaios and the Aspendians. Polybios concludes: "Thus the Selgians, after nearly losing their country owing to the impious treachery of Logbasis, preserved it by their own valour and disgraced neither their liberty nor their kinship with the Lakedaimonians." (Polyb. V, 76, 11)

After these events, Selge worked hard to regain its former position, and probably made good use of the death of Achaios in 213 BC and the campaigns of the victor, Antiochos III, in the East. When Antiochos was defeated by Romans and Attalids at Magnesia in 189 BC, the Romans gave the territory of Selge to Eumenes II (r. 197-159 BC), the king of Pergamon. The Selgians were far from submitting under Eumenes and lodged an official complaint in Rome (Polyb. 31.1.3). In the 160s BC, Eumenes assembled his forces and campaigned against the Selgians in order to subjugate them (Thonemann, Attalid Asia Minor (2013), p. 54), but the appearance of a second war against Selge by his successor Attalos II (r. 159-138 BC) in the 150s BC in the sources casts doubt on how successful the first war was (Thonemann (2013), p. 187). When Rome inherited the Attalid kingdom, the senate made the wise decision to not try and annex Selge, and later put it under the official authority of Amyntas of Galatia (r. 36-25 BC; Strab. 12.7.3C571). In imperial times, Selge continued to flourish and grow (Brandt, Hartwin, s.v. Selge, DNP online).

Remarkably, the motif on the coins of Selge (and Aspendos) is a slinger (Stater Weber 7424, pl. 267, ca. 300 BC; Stater SNG BN 1944, ca. 280 BC; CNG 2963, Ca. 275 BC; SNG vA 5270cf, ca. 300 BC). He wears no helmet, shield or body armour, and accordingly the Selgian slingers in RIS are armed only with a sling and a xiphos. To fit the descriptions of Strabo and Polybios, they have an increased morale, accuracy and missile damage. Use them from afar to make the Selgians proud – and the Spartans, if the claim is right.