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CHAPTER 45 ODRYSIAN CAVALRY ARMSEQUIPMENT AND TACTICS

CHRISTOPHER WEBBER

1 Strabo Geography 7f472 Aristophanes Acharnians 145 this was in autumn 4293 Herodotus V34 This might be one explanation for the brevity of Sitalkes campaignagainst Macedonia5 Thucydides 2100 Head AOTMAPW p 29Head D TTT pp14-176 Polyaenus 111946 This would be the largest body of mercenarytroops who fought for the Thracians

The Odrysian Army

Although by Strabos time Thrace had been devastated to anexceptional degree he said that the region as a whole couldsend into the field 15000 cavalry and 200000 infantry1 Thiswould corroborate Herodotus statement that there were abouta million Thracians which allows an army 100 200000 strongIt also makes creadible Thucycidides claim that when theOdrysian king Sitalkes called up all Thracian troops south ofthe Danube 150000 warriors poured like a cloud of locusts2

into Macedonia carrying all before them No wonder Herodotussays of the Thracians that were they under one ruler or unitedthey would be invincible and the strongest nation on earth3

However the army was not paid but lived on booty and themajority of troops would have supplied their own equipmentConsequently armies dissolved quickly if not succcessful4

The Odrysian army was composed mainly of peltasts andcavalry the remainder being lighter infantry (javelin menarchers and slingers)5 In Sitalkes army these warriors camefrom the Odrysai Getae eastern Paionians (Agrianians andLaeaeans) Treres Tilateans Apsinthii Krobyzi Dii (plus Bessiand other mountain tribes) and Thyni None of the tribes fromthe Aegean coast (Edoni Bisaltae etc) joined Sitalkes Greekmercenaries were occasionally hired to make up for the lack ofheavy infantry Iphicrates had 8000 men in Thrace at one stage6

but we cannot be sure if this was when he was in Kotys serviceor when he was campaigning in the same area on Athens behalfMany of Iphicrates victories were gained using peltasts as themain arm but what Kotys needed was hoplites and theseprobably formed the mainstay of his mercenary forceUnfortunately when the Macedonians invaded the Thracianshad no such infantry capable of defeating the Macedonianphalanx7

Tribes fought together as well as alone but largeagglomerations were rare More typical were the four tribesthat attacked Romans with 10000 men in a mountainous defilein 189 or the Triballis lone defence against Alexander theGreat Tribal fragmentation meant that most Thracian armieswould have been 10-20000 men strong

One of the most powerful of these appeared in 400 whenSeuthes II hired the 6000 or so survivors of Xenophons armyto get his own domain on the Black sea coast8 They were mainlyhoplites but included nearly 1000 peltasts javelinmen andslingers and 50 cavalry9 Xenophon says simply that Seutheshad an army larger than the Greek army and that it tripled insize as the news of its success spread This could mean thatSeuthes army grew to a strength of around 20000 menincluding the Greeks 10 The Thracian contribution to this armywould have been around 4000 Odrysian light cavalry 500heavy cavalry 500 archers and slingers 7000 peltasts and2000 javelin-armed lighter infantry11

The army was organised along tribal lines with eachcontingent commanded by its own prince or his relatives Sincethe leaders expected to be in the forefront of battle they wouldhave had little control over their armies once battle was joinedIn Sitalkes case (when fighting the Triballi) this also meant7 eg Arrian 12 148 Opcit VII723 I7 before the battle of Cunaxa there were 10400hoplites and 2500 peltasts but when they get to Thrace D Head inThracian Troop Types in Slingshot September 1979 p 21 and JGPBest Thracian Peltasts and their influence on Greek warfare 1969p76 wrote their number had dwindled to 6000 While Anabasis VII2 and with Xenophon there were about seventeen hundred hoplitesand about three hundred peltasts Xenophon was the only one whohad cavalry a force of about forty horsemen Diodorus Siculus XIV315 says 8300 survived to reach the Bosphorus but they then splitup9 Xenophon Anabasis III 316 Anabasis VII 3 also says Seuthesthen went off and Timasion with about forty Greek horsemen wentwith him10 Xenophon Anabasis 7515 742011 These figures are based on the assumption that cavalry formed aboutone third of the army peltasts formed the bulk of the troops and theremainder were lighter infantry with archers predominating overslingers

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the death of the commander and loss of the battle Commandswere transmitted by trumpet calls12 Thracian musicians usedhorns for giving signals and also trumpets of raw ox-hide thatcoud play music like that of a harp13

It is probable that different Thracian tribes favoureddifferent fighting styles and had different proportions of troop-types in their armies For instance in the Iliad Euphemesarrayed the Ciconians men of the spear14 and Pryaechmes ledPaeonians armed with the bow Mountain tribes were morewarlike and favoured infantry while those from the plainsfavoured cavalry The Odrysai fielded 8000 horse (28) and20000 foot against Lysimachos15 A detachment of Odrysianssent by Seuthes to aid the Spartans in Bithynia in 398 wascomposed of 200 cavalry (40) and 300 peltasts16 Thucydidessays that the Getai and their neighbours by the Danube were allmounted archers in the Skythian style17 However Alexanderfaced a Getic army of 4000 horse and 10000 foot or about28 cavalry18 Seuthes hired 2000 Getic light troops for useagainst the Athenians in the Thracian Chersonese19 which showsthey may have been a regular component of Odrysian armiesSo an Odrysian royal army might contain between 25 and40 cavalry while the army of a single tribe or group of hilltribes might have much less

The Odrysian Cavalry

Horse riding epitomised the Thracians Euripides and Homercalled the Thracians a race of horsemen and Thrace theland of the Thracian horsemen20 This description seems jus-tified as even though the cavalry only made up a small propor-tion of their army they were quite numerous For instancealthough Sitalkes army was only one-third cavalry this repre-sented about 50000 men The majority of these were Odrysiansand Getai21 Thus the Odrysians alone could outnumber all thefifth-century Greek cities and other tribal kingdoms collectivelyin cavalry forces22 However Macedonian heavy cavalry op-

erated against them with impunity when Sitalkes invadedMacedonia The Macedonians made cavalry attacks on theThracian army when they saw their opportunity Whenever theydid so being excellent horsemen and armed with breastplatesno one could stand up to them23 This happened again dur-ing the battle of Lyginus between Alexander and the Triballi24

The cavalry were chiefly unarmoured javelin-armed skir-mishers with relatively few armoured cavalry forming a body-guard for the king25 This might explain why Sitalkes had notroops able to stand up to the heavy Macedonian cavalryAgainst the Greeks though they seem to have had more suc-cess with several Greek armies being wiped out duringcolonisation attempts Perhaps the best evidence for the suc-cess of Thracian cavalry is the way that the mainland Greekstook up Thracian cavalry dress and horsemanship Athenianriders wearing Thracian boots andor Thracian headdress canbe seen on the Parthenon frieze and wearing Thracian cloakson Athenian pottery26

Horses were very important to Thracians and seem tohave been of good quality27 Studies of Thracian horses fromfourth century tombs show that they were larger than steppeponies and at least comparable to the breeds on the Greek main-land which reached 134m or 13 hands They had a long thickmane a short tail and carried their heads high28 The biggestwould have been between 136 and 144m or 14 hands at thewithers similar to stallions of the Przewalski horse29 Thissize between that of a modern pony and a horse is now calleda Galloway It was still small enough that riders who rode withtheir legs straight barely kept their feet off the ground

Horses were trained and bred for racing a prerequisitefor successful cavalry warfare Xenophon rates Thracian horsesto be as good as Persian and Greek horses and says that theOdrysians habitually ran their horse races downhill30 In theIliad a Trojan spy reports that the Thracian king Rhesus hasthe finest and strongest horses he has ever seen whiter thansnow and fleeter than any wind that blows31 The Megariansasked an oracle who were better then they The extraordinaryreply received was Better than all other land is the land ofPelasgian Argos Thracian mares are the best and theLacedaemonian women32 Vergil describes three Thracianhorses One had white fetlocks and a snowy star on the fore-head another was a piebald while a third was dappled withwhite Horses in the Kazanluk paintings do not have any mark-ings and are different shades of brown except for a single white

12 Xenophon Anabasis 741913 Ibid 733214 Illiad Chapter 215 Diodorus Siculus XVIII14216 Xenophon Hellenica III 2217 Thucydides 29618 Arrian 14 1519 Polyaenus Stratagems of War 73820 Euripides Hecabe 7-10 (Penguin)Polydorus To Thrace to the palace of his old friend Polymestorwho farms the fertile plain of this peninsula and rules over a race ofhorsemen with his swordp 84 (707-709) Hecabe It was my own trusted friend the Thracianhorseman to whose house Priam had sent him secretlyHomer Iliad 131 (Loeb)Now Zeus when he had brought the Trojans and Hector to the shipsleft the combatants there to have toil and woe unceasingly but him-self turned away his bright eyes and looked afar upon the land of theThracian horsemenHomer Iliad XIVVenus now went back into the house of Jove while Juno darted downfrom the summits of Olympus She passed over Pieria and fair Emathiaand went on and on till she came to the snowy ranges of the Thracianhorsemen over whose topmost crests she sped without ever settingfoot to ground21Thucydides 210022 Archibald Z op cit p 204

23 Thucydides II 10024 Arrian 12 1425 Head AOTMAPW p 29 Head TTT pp 14-1726 Archibald Z ibid pp 204-206 see Fig 127 Although J K Anderson (Ancient Greek Horsemanship Univ ofCalifornia Press Berkeley 1961 p22) deems the Thracian horse tohave been a compound of all possible faults I have not found anyancient sources that agree with him His theory is that as Thrace hadbeen scourged by numerous wars and invasions whatever was goodin the equine sense was stolen or destroyed The same argumentwould make possible an improvement via a mixture of breeds fromAsia the argument about wars etc probably only applies after theMacedonian conquest28 CAH Vol VIII page 54229 Achibald Z op cit p 20530Xenophon On Horsemanship VIII31 Homer Iliad X32 Theocritus Idyl xiv 48

530 CHRISTOPHER WEBBER

Figure 1 5th century Thracian light cavalryman with zeira boots fox skin cap two javelins and a pelte slung onhis back Note the small size of the horse (From a red figure pelike found near Sozopol)

ODRYSIAN CAVALRY ARMS EQUIPMENT AND TACTICS 531

Figure 2a Reconstruction of silver gilt harness ornaments 1 to 4 left to right 1 4th century from Simeonovgrad nearHaskovo HM Haskovo P49 2 3rd or 2nd century from Ravnogor near Pazardzik (found with a hair from the forelock inthe hollow horn) HM Pazardzik A4646-4652 4707 157 3 c 400 - 350 from Letnitsa 44th century from the Lukovittreasure Archaeological Museum Sofia copy Linda Dicmanis 2001

Figure 2b Reconstruction of some other harness ornaments by Linda Dicmanis copy Linda Dicmanis 2001 1 Kralevotreasure Targoviste region turn of 4th-3rd centuries BC (probably Getic) HM Targoviste 2298-2306 2 4th centuryharness ornamnents from the Lukovit treasure Archaeological Musuem Sofia 3 The silver headstall from MramorMoglia Panagyurishte district 350-300 previously thought to have been a shield applique It was found with fivecircular ornaments Archaeological Museum Sofia It is 32 cm long which Linda Dicmanis found to fit exactly ontoa horses head copy Linda Dicmanis 2001


Figure 3 Triballi or Getic horsemen on Silver-gilt jug from the 4th century Rozogen treasureNational Museum of History inv No22459 Note the saddle and chest strap decorations and thehorn on the horses heads


Figure 4 The tombstone of a 1st century ADThracian auxiliary cavalryman from GloucesterHe uses a lancea but may also have had a case ofjavelins The details of his clothes and armourwere probably painted on but have now disap-peared The inscription reads Rufus Sita caval-ryman of the 6th cohort of Thracians 40 years oldand 22 years of military service His heirs erectedthis stone in accordance with his will Here he liesAuthors photograph

Figure 5 The Alexandrovo tomb 400-375 It consists of two rooms - a rectangular entryway and a round chamber with ahigh dome Both rooms are covered with murals men animals plants and geometric motifs Note the unusual shape tothe spears the similarities to the Kazanluk paintings the horse trappings and the Greek costumes


Fugure 5 (Continued)


Figure 6 Silver-gilt fourth century Thracian (probably Triballi) horseornaments from Lukovit The rider wears a draping chlamys and atunic reaching to his mid-thigh Note the bridle rings and chest strapdecorations Archaeological Museum Sofia No 8214

horse White horses were evidently special as one was pre-sented to Seuthes II at the banquet attended by Xenophon33 Inthe Alexandrovo tomb the horses are wholly painted greywhite brown or yellow

It is interesting to note that Thracian horses seem to havebeen larger than Skythian and Saka horses which were of thePrzewalski type - small stocky ponies with naturally shortmanes and long tails Scythian horses found in permafrostgraves were chestnut browns bays or jet black None weredapple grey mottled bay skewbald roan or grey Whitepatches which are common on modern brown horses wereabsent It is thought the Skythians avoided light coloured orwhite marked horses as they had a corresponding light colouredhoof that was easily injured So apparently it was not until theinvention of the horseshoe that we start to see white patcheson horses extremities34

The horse trappings were well crafted and highly deco-rative and horses wearing all the items discovered in Thraciantombs must have made a fine sight35 A variety of harnessingmethods was used some of which resembled Skythian andPersian practice Leather bridles in red or dark brown colourconsisted of side-straps nose bands with or without chinstrapsoften forehead-straps and throat-lashes Reins were the samecolour The harness fittings (most often disks or rings) weremade of a mixture of iron bronze gold and silver or bronzeand silver

Harness fittings were adorned like the those of theSkythians featuring real or fantastic animals but many fea-tured distinctive anthropomorphic motifs including the

Thracian horseman and Thracian mythology Sometimes hun-dreds of exquisitely crafted ornaments were used on a singlehorse There was a separate native tradition which neverthe-less grew closer to similarly evolving Royal Skythian schemesduring the fourth century At the same time Greek influencesbecame increasingly more prominent36 The meaning of theseornaments has often been discussed but apparently not theirusage The horse decorations painted in the Alexandrovo tombnow show definitely how they were worn one on the noseone on the forehead and two on each side of the head Exceptfor the nose decoration the Alexandrovo paintings confirmpositions shown in the Kazanluk tomb paintings which showdisks in these locations

There are a lot of similarities to the Kazanluk figures thepose of the horses fancy saddlecloths clean-shaven faces andthe low shoes The nose and forehead ornaments in theAlexandrovo tomb are significant in that similar decorationshave been found in other tombs but their use had not previ-ously been illustrated Where more than six appliques havebeen found the most likely location for the adornments wouldbe on the chest strap and along the forehead strap Horses withthe most basic ring decorations generally only had them oneach side of the head

250 silver appliques from Vratsa 206 of which were tinyheads might have been attached to the reins or sewn onto asaddle cloth Apart from the use of the saddle cloth horseswere ridden bareback as stirrups horseshoes and saddles wereyet to be invented Although horses are often shown withoutsaddle cloths this may have been artistic convention meant toshow off the lines of the horses body Xenophon says a manmay ride bareback but assumes saddlecloths are standard atleast for war Most cloths were simple rectangles The Scythiansused what was essentially a cushioned saddle cloth Leathercovered cushions stuffed with deer hair or straw were stitchedwith sinew thread with wooden supports Xenophon recom-mends a thick quilted saddlecloth and the pad may derive fromthis

The southern Thracians learned of the simple Skythiansaddle through their northern cousins and it seems theOdrysians were using it by the third century One of the horsesfrom the Kazanluk paintings has a low dark brown saddle on acream and brown cloth The 3rd century Sveshtari tomb showsa Hellenised king of the Getai sitting on a richly decoratedsaddle with four long pendants painted red

Many brightly coloured saddlecloths are shown on theKazanluk and Alexandrovo paintings One is red with yellowdecoration except that the tassels on the rear points are whiteOthers are straight-edged and plain red In the Alexandrovotomb the saddle cloths are coloured blue and red blue andwhite or red and white Animal-skin saddle cloths were alsoused37

All have simple geometrical patterns - none show theelaborate decorations used by the Skythians and Persians whoincluded birds and flowers in their designs The material usedfor Thracian saddlecloths is unknown but Skythian and Per-sian cloths were made of felt sometimes with leather edging orbacking Wool and hemp are other possibilities They were33 Xenophon Anabasis7334

34 httpmembersozemailcomau~ancientpersiacavalryhtml 20120135 See fig 2

36 Archibald Z opcit pp 247-25137 Head D AOTMAPW pp 127-128 173-174 Webber Ch op citloc cit one is shown on the dome of the Kazanluk tomb


Figure 7 Tombstone of a mercenary Thracian cavalryman fromAbdera dating to the second or first century His equipment is typi-cal of Thracian cavalry of the late Hellenistic period He carries athureos a long sword and a spear and wears trousers tunic andcloak National Archaeological Museum Sophia Inv 8409

held by breast and girth straps that were knotted around togglesor spacers buckles being unknown

The Alexandrovo and Kazanluk tomb paintings show thatcarrot-like tassels sometimes hung from the chest strap Thechest strap was also often decorated with metallic disks of onesort or another In addition The Lukovit applique shows achest strap decorated with a series of Xs An interesting deco-ration is worn on the forehead of two Triballi or Getic horseson a silver-gilt jug from the Rozogen treasure38 This lookslike a unicorn horn bent backwards and is similar to decora-tions used by Skythians The same horse also has a saddle andmetallic ornaments on the cheek and throat straps

Most Thracian bits were quite severe and consisted oftwo S-shaped branches with two or three rings or holes con-nected by a chain These can be seen on the Alexandrovo tombthough on the Kazanluk tomb the outside branches are straightwith curved ends Thracian bits are usually made of iron oriron covered with silver foil although some may also have beenof bronze The extent to which the Greek type (the hard bit)replaced or supplemented the native ones in Odrysian territo-ries has still to be clarified but this bit was rarely used beforethe mid-fourth century The Greek bit usually consists of bronzeparts fitted around an iron core with bronze links It helps thehorse to salivate and makes it far easier to manoeuvre 39

Later cavalry developments

The fourth century saw the start of many changes in cavalrydress and equipment The distinctive Thracian dress was dis-carded additional armour of new types was worn shields andsaddles came into use and light infantry was trained to supportcavalry40 Light cavalry was now likely to have the basic pro-tection of helmet and shield while heavy cavalry took to wear-ing iron helmets and composite corselets

Early 2nd century Thracian noble cavalry had a force oflight infantry attached to them41 These may have been trainedto fight alongside the cavalry and to hamstring the enemy horsesBithynian cavalry too seem to have been closely supported byattached infantry This is not recorded before the early 3rdcentury and is probably a result of Hellenistic influence asGreek and Macedonian generals were using light infantry inclose support of their cavalry long before42

From the late fourth century onwards Odrysian cavalryoperated mostly as allied or subject troops In particularThracian troops were critical to the success of Alexander theGreat They formed about one fifth of his army (25 of theinfantry and 20 of the cavalry to begin with) and took part inalmost all his battles Of the forces that crossed to Asia therewere 7000 Odrysians Triballi and Illyrians plus 1000 archersand Agrianians (a Paionian tribe) out of a total of 32000 footsoldiers43 There were also 900 Thracian and Paeonian scoutsout a total of 4500 cavalry A further 500 Thracian cavalryjoined Alexanders army while it was at Memphis44 A body ofOdrysian horse (probably heavy cavalry) commanded bySitalkes an Odrysian prince was likewise present45 600Thracian cavalry and 3500 Trallians joined Alexander afterhe left Babylon46

At the battle of the Granicus in 334 Alexander deployedthe Thracians on his left flank but they were not engaged dur-ing the battle47 Thracian cavalry took part in Alexanders rapidmarch to Miletus48 and Thracian javelinmen screened theMacedonian left flank in battle against the Pisidians49 Beforethe Battle of Issos (333) we find Alexander using the lightarmed Thracians to reconnoitre the mountainous surround-ings of the Cilician Gates50

At the subsequent battle the Thracians were initially inthe van of the army51 then they were again posted on the leftwing brigaded with Cretan archers52 They were also on theleft wing at Gaugamela (331) when the savage Thracians (cav-alry and infantry) helped beat off a sustained attack by superiornumbers of Persian cavalry53 However the Thracian infantryhad mixed success defending the baggage against the Indian

39 Archibald Z opcit pp 247-25140 Head D AOTMAPW pp 51 127- 12941 Livy XLII5242 Head D AOTMAPW p 5143 Diod Sic 1717444 Arrian 3545 Arrian 31346 Diod Sic 1765147 Arrian 11448 Arrian 11849 Arrian 12950 Curtius III 451 Curtius III9952 Arrian 29

38 National Museum of History inv No 22459 (AG plate 83 AGHelsinki No 33) See Fig 3


cavalry Although many other troops were allowed to returnhome before or during the march to India the Thracians stayedon 3000 infantry and 500 horsemen would be left as a garri-son on the Indus river near the present day city of Rawalpindi54

At the battle of the Hydaspes (326 ) the Thracian light infantryattacked the Indian elephants with copides (curved swordsor rhomphaias)55 The Agrianians in particular were given manycritical missions56

Many other battles in the struggle for Alexanders em-pire involved Thracian troops Eumenes deployed Thracianson his left flank at the battle of the Hellespont in 32157 AtParaitakene (317) 500 Thracian cavalry fought on one sideand 1000 cavalry fought on the other (possibly colonistThracians verses native Thracians the native Thracians won)58

Thracian cavalry next rose to prominence in the wars withthe Romans In 171 Perseus was joined by Kotys king of theOdrysai with 1000 picked cavalry and about 1000 infantry59

Perseus already had 3000 free Thracians under their owncommander in his forces60 These fought like wild beastswho had long been kept caged61 at the Kallinikos skirmishthat year defeating the Roman allied cavalry They returnedfrom battle singing with severed heads as trophies Their per-formance at the Battle of Pydna (168) was less remarkable they are only mentioned when running away62 Thracian cav-alry are recorded switching sides in 109 when two mercenarysquadrons were bribed to let Jugurtha into a Roman camp63

The last significant instance of the use of Thracian horsemenseems to be in 71 - while Lucullus was campaigning in Pontushe used Thracian cavalry to successfully charge Armeniancataphracts in the flank64

However Thracian cavalry continued in use In 48 at theBattle of Pharsalus Kotys the Odrysian king sent around 500cavalry with his son Sadalas to join Pompeys army in GreeceAmong Pompeys infantry were members of the Bessi tribesome of them mercenaries others conscripted or volunteersPompeys camp was zealously defended by the Roman cohortsleft to guard it but more fiercely still by the Thracian

auxiliaries65 but Pompey was defeated by Caesar 2000Thracian Illyrian Parthian and Thessalian cavalry were atPhilippi in 4266 while Thracian mercenaries and allies alsoparticipated on the losing side in 31 at the Battle of Actiumwhen Octavian defeated Mark Antony67

After Thrace became a province in 46 AD troops raisedthere fought throughout the Roman world including BritainThe tombstone of a 1st century AD Thracian cavalryman RufusSita (presumably he had red hair like his ancestors) was foundin Gloucester and is now on show in the city museum and aThracian shrine has been excavated in Dorset Another Thraciancavalryman has his tombstone from Wroxeter on display inShrewsburys Rowley House museum68 At the other end ofthe empire in the Crimea Lucius Furius Seuthes left his eques-trian tombstone69

Costume

From the 7th to the 4th centuries Thracian light cavalry wore atunic cloak (zeira) cap (alopekis) and boots (embades)70

Thracian warriors with this dress are common in 6th-5th cen-tury Greek art and still described by Xenophon in the early4th71 Other less sophisticated examples of Greek pots showThracian cavalry dressed very simply in a pointed hat and longflowing tunic and they are indistinguishable from Skythiancavalry This costume would probably still be in use in middleof the fourth century as the costume is still worn by the Thracianwarrior goddess Bendis on an Athenian relief of about 350 though newer styles had already begun to supplant it72 Some4th century Thracian metalwork shows the cavalryman bare-headed and with bare feet a medium length flowing cloak andsimple tunic The exact colours of earlier Thracian costumealthough described as brightly coloured are unknown Thetomb paintings use rather dull colours and are not much helpprior to 350 Thracian clothing was made of hemp flax orwool and was well regarded for its fine quality and texture73

Outer garments were sewn naturally or artificially dyed withwoven or embroidered decoration The way in which the clotheswere worn depended on the season and on the type of workpracticed with certain regional differences74 The northernThracians wore narrow trousers and a short shirt tucked intothem combined with an outer tunic tied at the waist75 Over

53 Arrian 313 31554 They remained in India until 317 after which they came back toAsia Minor where they joined the mercenary armies of Alexanderssuccessors Florov amp Florov op cit p 4755 Curtius VIII 14 24-3056 eg the flank attack on the Persian Gates (Arrian 318) Duringthe siege of Tyre Alexander took only the shield bearing guardsand the Agrianians and set out to Sidon (Arrian 219) They werealso on the right flank in nearly all the battles usually brigadednear the Companions or Royal Guards57 Diodorus XVIII 30-32 Plutarch Eumenes58 Diodorus Siculus XIX 275 and 293 At the same timeDiodorus XIX 145 says that Peucestes Satrap of Persia had 600Greek and Thracian cavalry59 Livy XLII5260 Ibid61 Livy XLII5262 Livy XLIV 42 nevertheless the cavalry (deployed on theMacedonian right) survived the battle virtually unscathed whichmeans that they either ran away without a fight or must have madea good account of themselves as they were outnumbered andprobably had to face the more heavily armoured Pergamene cavalry63 Sallust Jugurthine War XXXVIII There are several otherrecorded instances of Thracian troops switching sides in the middleof a battle64 Plutarch Lucullus

65 Caesar Civil Wars II9566 Appian The Civil Wars IV XI 87-88 Kotys king of theSapaioi hedged his bets on this battle he sent one of his sonsRaskos to the camp of the Caesarians and the other oneRaskouporis to the republicans67 Plutarch Mark Antony King Sadalas of Thrace came to hissupport but Dicomes king of the Getae only promised his supportKing Rhoemetalkes supported Octavian at this battle68 See Fig 469 Sokolov G Antique Art on the Northern Black Sea CoastLeningrad 1974 Fig 17270 Herodotus VII75 see fig 171 Xenophon Anabasis VII472 See fig 5 None of the people painted on the walls of theAlexandrovo tomb wear this costume73 Herodotus IV 74 Euripides Hecabe 1153-1155 p 98 (Penguin)74 Georgieva R Spiridonov T amp Rekho M Thracian EthnologyUniv Press Sv Kliment Ohridski Sofia 1999 English summaryat httpmemberstripodcom~Groznijatthracethnothrac_ethnolhtml


this clothing cloaks fur coats and the characteristic Thracianzeira were used These were decorated with fibulae leather ortextile bells and various other articles of adornment76 Thetotal effect was quite impressive Plato says he thought theThracian contingent marching in an Athenian religious festivalput on a better show than the citizens (they must have lookedreally good as this is saying that barbarians are better thancitizens even in a small way)77

The cap was called alopekis meaning fox-skin in GreekArt shows a wide variety of Thracian caps in three main stylesOne was clearly made of a foxs skin its face perched abovethe wearers forehead with neck- and cheek-flaps of patternedcloth A second style shows the same neck- and cheek-flapsattached to a low-crowned cap of cloth or felt or sometimesperhaps dappled cowhide The third style is a simple high-crowned Phrygian cap again with neck and cheek-flaps allapparently made in one piece78

Noble Odrysian cavalry may have worn tattoos Tatooingwas a sign of birth though there is no evidence that it waspracticed by Odrysian men79 Noble Thracian women showedoff their status by wearing richer and more brightly coloureddesigns some of which are shown on the Vratsa greave80 Theywere tattooed on their faces and with spots on their armssupposedly to commemorate the murder of Orpheus (byThracian women)81 Although there are no known depictionsof tattooed Thracian warriors the noblemen may have adoptedthis pracatice for the Agathyrsi (a Skythian tribe near theThracians with some Thracian customs) are said to have tattooedboth their faces and their limbs with distinctive tribal marksThe sort of tattoos worn were probably similar to the spiralsand animal motifs worn by Skythian chiefs82 The Getai beingunder heavy Skythian influence are especially likely to havefollowed this custom

There are however lots of paintings of the Thracian tu-nic and cloak The Thracian tunic was knee-length and sleeve-less It was tied at the waist and belt buckles with wolf motifswere common83 The tunic was frequently patterned like thecloak but sometimes was unmarked or patterned at the hemonly The cloak (zeira) was worn over the top of the tunic andwas the most striking article of Thracian dress The peltastsand cavalry wore it but probably not the lighter infantry Itcovered the whole body like a blanket and seems to have beenof heavy material since the paintings show it as stiff and not

hanging in folds This would suit the mountain tribes who hadto deal with very cold winters and cool nights during the sum-mer It was very long often reaching to the feet The topportion could be folded over as a sort of collar or the top cor-ners could be turned in to hang over the chest or thrown backover the shoulders It was held on by a single fibula or broochat the left shoulder and was often worn like a Greek cloak(draped over the left shoulder leaving the right arm free) Thecloak was boldly patterned with lozenges zig-zag and castel-lated lines and other geometric motifs84 Like the clothes wornby Balkan people until recently the patterns probably indicatedthe owners tribe and region of origin and groups of warriorsfrom the same area probably wore similar patterns (though thisis hard to establish as few Greek vases show groups ofThracians)85

Thracian boots (embades) were another distinctive fea-ture They were made from fawnskin and (in contrast to Greekand Roman styles) entirely covered the feet and part of thelower leg The boots were laced up at the front usually with anumber of flaps hanging down from the top These boots wereideal for the colder climate of the mountains or for cavalryuse They may even have provided some protection for thelegs against wounds86

Thracian costume of the Hellenistic and Roman eras

A dramatic change in appearance began during the fourthcentury reflecting Greek influence The evidence comes fromwall paintings in tombs near Kazanluk (early 3rd century)Alexandrovo (early 4th century) and Sveshtari (3rd century)These also provide the first colour references They show thatthe beards tattoos cloaks boots hats and top-knots have alldisappeared At this time also archaeological evidence provesthat some Thracians began to wear (usually three) bronze orgold torcs around their necks87 Bare feet sandals or yellowishor red-brown shoes with turned-up toes replaced the boots Asa result of these changes the Thracians who fought forAlexander would have been very similar in appearance to theMacedonians and Greeks in his army88

Most tunics at Kazanluk are simple single colour gar-ments either with patterned borders or free of any decorationSome are short-sleeved and others are sleeveless In the lattercase it was probably fastened at the shoulder with pins as it isoccasionally shown leaving the right shoulder and chest bareThe colours of the cloaks and tunics at Kazanluk include red

75 See fig 376 Ibid77 Plato Republic 327a78 Head D Thracian Troop Types Slingshot No 85 September1979 p 14 only mentions two types but Duncan now agrees withme that there were three See wwwthe-thracianscomappearanhtm79 Herodotus V680 Levi P Atlas of the Greek World 1987 P 12781 Head D Thracian Troop Types Slingshot No 85 September1979 p 1582 Trippett F The First Horsemen Time Life Books 1980 p 113shows these tattoos however M E Durham Some Origins Laws ampCustoms of th Balkans London 1928 (Figure 3 p 103 amp figure 4 p105) suggests that sun and moon symbols were the most common assun worship was a prominent Thracian religion83 Paunova V Warriors Belt Appliques from Thrace (6th-4th Cen-tury BC) in Archaeologia Bulgarica Vol 3 No 2 1999 pp 15-29

84 See Fig 185 Herodotus VII75 Xenophon Anabasis VII4 Duncan Head opcit p 15 Archibald op cit pp 207-208 Warry op cit p 50Georgieva et al summary86 Herodotus VII75 Xenophon Anabasis VII4 Head op cit p 15Archibald op cit pp 207-208 See fig 187 eg Marazov I (ed) op cit plate 200 (p 234) Fol A (ed) AncientThrace Gold and Silver Treasures from Bulgaria 5000 BC- 300AD(catalogue of the Helsinki exhibition) 2000 Item 40 p 8088 Zhivkova L The Kazanluk Tomb Recklinghausen 1975 plates14-18 A Fol et al The Thracian Tomb Near the Village of SveshtariSofia 1986 pp 110-113 Webber Ch The Alexandrovo Tomb andOther Recent Discoveries Slingshot 216 July 2001 pp 47-50w ww th e -th r ac ian s com a lexandr ovo_ tom b h tm h t t p memberstripodcom~Groznijatthracaleksandrovo_1htm wwwthe-thracianscomkazanlukhtm The Alexandrovo tomb is not yet pub-lished See Fig 3


white red-brown pale blue pale green cream light blue andoff-white At Alexandrovo there is one tunic that is brownwith two white vertical stripes down both sides It is like thetunic of one servant on the dome of the Kazanluk tomb It isred-brown with one white stripe on each sleeve and two downeach side Another Alexandrovo cavalier wears a red tunicanother wears a white tunic decorated with a few vertical thinorange lines and a third wears a white tunic decorated withthick brown vertical lines down the sides They are clean-shaven two with short hair and one with long hair The caval-ryman in the white tunic might have a Greek petasos hat onbut it is more likely just a random white splotch instead TheSveshtari horseman (a Getic king) is wears an unmarked shorttunic and chlamys but the colour cannot be determined TheThracians at the battle of Pydna (168) wore black tunics89 Fewof the infantry at Kazanluk and none of the figures atAlexandrovo wear cloaks90

One of the riders in the Alexandrovo tomb wears a long-sleeved blue top under his white tunic (which is decorated witha few thin vertical orange lines) This figures combination oflong sleeves showing under the short-sleeved tunic is similarto Dacian dress centuries later It may have been inspired bythe Persians On both the Alexander Mosaic and Sarcophagus(including the Hunt Frieze from Philip IIs tomb and severalother visual sources) long sleeved tunics are shown being wornby Philip Alexander and aristocratic cavalrymen - this is alsorepeated on bronze and terracotta figures Such tunics may havebeen borrowed by the Macedonian court inspired or influencedby high ranking Persian dress (along with purple cloaks) Butthen again perhaps the Thracian nobles took the fashion fromthe Persians first and it was in turn taken up by their neighboursthe Macedonians It seems that vertically stripped tunics be-came all the rage during the 4th century in this general part ofthe world A figure on the Alexander Sarcophagus (often iden-tified as a servant) wears a tunic with two thin vertical stripes -and a number of servants (and or grooms) appear to the leftof the solider symposium tomb painting from Agios Athanasios(near Thessaloniki) wearing similar tunics - not dissimilar tothose worn by figures from both Kazanluk and Alexandrovo91

Since the paintings are early 4th century they help toanswer the perennial question of what Alexanders Thraciansmay have looked like his armies are located chronologicallyin between Kazanluk (and Sveshtari) and Alexandrovo It lookslike the Hellenisation of the Thracians began much earlier thanpreviously thought and had a longer time to percolate down tothe lower levels of society

Thracian heroes and gods carved in stone and metalworkduring the early Roman era show that the Thracians took towearing Roman and Celtic dress Some also wore trousersThey had curly hair may have worn torcs and a tunic or cloakheld on by a single circular brooch on the left shoulder92 Thetunic is in some cases folded and pleated many times verticallyand tucked in around the waist The folds almost concealed abelt that was won together with a baldric In this case thelength of the tunic was adjusted by pulling it up through the

belt93

Armour

Armour was initially restricted to the noble cavalry but in thefourth century many troops began wearing helmets and peltastsstarted wearing greaves There was a marked difference be-tween northern and southern Thrace with the northernThracians wearing Skythian-style panoplies and the southernThracians wearing Greek equipment (with Thracian alterations)Thracian warriors commonly used armour that was older thanthe rest of their equipment or a mixture of armour and weap-ons from different styles and periods94 Some types of armourpersisted long after they ceased to be used elsewhere Assum-ing burials reflected actual practice Thracians in this periodoften wore a mixture of Thracian and Greek equipment andonly one or two pieces of armour not a complete panoply95

Finally Thracian troops of the Thracian client-kingdom wereequipped in the Roman style96 which may have meant thatthey wore Roman mail shirts and helmets and carried Romanshields They continued to use these when they becameThracian auxiliaries in Roman service97

Shields

Thracian light cavalry are sometimes shown with a peltestrapped to their back98 Although Clement of AlexandriasStromata99 asserts that the Thracians were the first to use shieldson horseback it is assumed that the shield protected againstattacks from the rear as they are not depicted using them inbattle The cavalry only used their shields (if they had any) fordismounted action until the 3rd century100 Until then it seemseven the heavy cavalry used a pelte

The pelte101 was usually crescentshaped but which mightalso be circular or oval102 Greek pots provide our only visualrecord of peltai Some sources mention bronze and even goldas materials used in their construction103 However for the most

89 Plutarch Aemilius Paulus 1890 Webber Ch op cit pp 47-49 Head op cit p 17 Head DAOTMAPW pp 124-12991 This information supplied by David Karunanithy from his researchfor his forthcoming book on the Macedonians92 See above

93 Barker Ph Armies and Enemies of the Macedonian and PunicWars 1st edition 1971 See fig 694 Archibald Z op cit p 19795 Ibid96 Florus II XXVII97 Cheshire op cit p 1398 eg 4th century red figure vase from Sozopol shown on p 46 AFol AT see fig 799 From Clement of Alexandrias Stromata (Miscellanies) ChapXV1 The Inventors of Other Arts were Mostly Barbarians TheThracians first invented what is called a scimitar (arph []) - it is acurved sword - and were the first to use shields on horseback Simi-larly also the Illyrians invented the shield (pelta)and that Itanus (hewas a Samnite) first fashioned the oblong shield (thureous)TheCarthaginians were the first that constructed a tritereme and theSidonians the first to construct a triremeThese things [ a whole hostof inventions are described covering all manner of objects] are re-ported by Seame of Mytilene Theophrastus of Ephesus Cydippus ofMantinea also Antiphanes Aristodemos and Aristotle and besidesthese Philostephanus and also Strato the Periapatetic in his bookConcerning Inventions100 Head D AOTMAPW pp 127- 129 the use of cavalry shields isthought to have spread from the Tarantines101 It was called the pelte (plural peltai) in Greek or pelta (pluralpeltae) in Latin102 Best JGP op cit pp 9-11 Head D loc cit 103 Best JGP op cit p3 Grant Chop cit Archibald Z op cit


Figure 8 A Thracian cavalryman with a large ribbed circular shield from the Pydna monument

part these small shields lacked a rim or any kind of bronzefacing and were made of perishable materials (generally a woodor wicker frame covered with goat or sheep skins)104 Tracesof such a shield made of some organic material fixed withbronze nails have been found in a tumulus near Debnevo inthe Lovech district105

Most vase-paintings show the pelte decorated either witha simple face animals or with more complex designs quitedifferent to those on hoplite shields106 The pelte was usuallycarried with an arm-strap and a leather or cord handle at therim or slung on the back using a back strap107 Although thearm-strap is sometimes shown as indistinguishable from thebronze porpax of the hoplite shield this could be a heroic ar-tistic convention on the part of Greek vase painters108 Thesingle central grip would then have been more commonXenophon describes a Thracian whose slung pelte caught be-tween the stakes of a fence he was trying to clamber over109

Thracian cavalry appear to have followed the Greeks in

adopting shields around 275110 Cavalry shields could be roundwith a central boss(shown on 1st century carvings of theThracian hero) oval like the thureos (shown on the Abderatombstone)111 or very large and circular with a spine boss (thestyle on the Pydna monument)112 Greek hoplite shields wererare in Thrace Parts of only two have been found a bronzerim and palmetto-decorated handgrip were found in a fourthcentury tomb near Topolovgrad and a fragment of a similarrim (plus armour) was in a grave at Svetlen113 The late fifthcentury silver-gilt belt from Lovets apparently depicts armouredriders carrying hoplite shields but it is more likely that theseare just dents or other damage

Other large circular shields are shown on a relief fromthe Apadana Persepolis on a stag head gold rhyton from thePanagyurishte treasure and on a Bithynian coin None of theseare shown in use by cavalry The Persepolis shield is very

pp 203-204104 Warry J pp 50-51 61105 Archibald Z opcit pp 203-204106 See Fig 8107 Head D loc cit108 Connolly P op cit p 48109 Xenophon Anabasis 7417

110 Head D AOTMAPW p 127 Thracian cavalry on the Pydna monu-ment the Abdera tombstone and some (later) depictions of theThracian hero all carry shields All these artifacts are dated to the 3rd

century or later111 Sekunda N The Seleucid Army Montvert Publications Stockport1994 pp 72 17-18 and fig 7112 See Fig 2113 Archibald Z op cit p 204


Figure 9 5th century silver gilt belt from Lovech depicting heavy cavalry in leather armour with pteryges Theleft-hand rider appears to be wearing a Corinthian helmet and carrying a shield though the latter is unlikely ashe would be carrying it in his right hand Archaeological Museum Sofia inv No 6617 Drawing copy DaniellaCarlsson 2001

Figure 9 (Continued)

Figure 10 Reconstruction of a late 5th century Thracian noble cavalryman in bellcuirass and Chalkidian helmet copy Johnny Shumate 2001


Figure 11 The procession drawn on the lunette (back wall) of the 3rd century Sveshtari tomb The drawing is in charcoal asthe tomb was unfinished It shows a Hellenised king of the Getai being crowned by the Thracian mother goddess The richlydecorated saddle has four long pendants painted red The horseman is wearing a short tunic and chlamys His right hand isoutstretched towards the Goddess Behind his ear there is a rams horn like those of other 3rd century monarchs Two menprobably servants walk behind the horseman The first man wearing a strange hat that may be a helmet or pilos carries along spear over his left shoulder while his right hand holds a scabbard from which dangles the shoulder-strap The secondman dressed in a knee-length garment holds a shield in his right hand


Figure 12a The Chariot horses from the dome of the Kazanluk tomb Note their harness ornaments

Figure 12 Kazanluk tomb

convex in section and apparently made of uncovered wicker114

The Nikomedes I (279-255) Bithynian coin shows a large roundshield slightly smaller than an aspis carried by the goddessBendis along with two javelins and a straight sword with scab-bard and baldric The shield is either decorated with circles ofrivets or perhaps has an embossed metal facing115 Athenascircular shield on the rhyton (circa 300 BC) has a sunburstdesign and a wide rim similar to an aspis This indicates that itis a standard depiction of Athena who wears Greek dress sothis probably does not indicate Thracian use (even though twoother figures on the rhyton wear Thracian or Phrygian dress)116

The thureos may have been borrowed from the Illyrians whohad been carrying similar shields from at least the 7th century117

The Kazanluk friezes which predate the Celtic invasions in279 show several examples of long flat oval shields being used

by Thracian foot warriors One of these has the distinctive ribof the thureos but the others do not and it is possible they mayrepresent a flat ribless shield A large flat oval-shaped fourthcentury shield found near Kyustendil was faced with bronzewhich glitters even today118 This may have been the type ofshield carried by the Kazanluk men Alternatively the Kazanlukshields might have been wicker as they are painted rimlesswicker- coloured and flat They have three loops hanging downon the inside used for a single hand grip or perhaps for slingingon the back

The thureos shown in use by the cavalryman on theAbdera tombstone was made of wood with a central woodenspine and usually an iron boss119 It could be oval or rectangu-lar in shape covered in leather and painted The thick rimsometimes depicted was probably the leather covering doubledover at the edges The shields strong construction and centralhandgrip may have allowed it to be used as a weapon to crushan opponent120 Sekunda121 says that a mid-2nd century versionof this shield from Sidon seems to have had a metal rim (per-haps bronze not iron) and with a metal spine on top of or evenreplacing the wooden one However there is no evidence thatthe Thracians used this later type which would have made skir-mishing difficult A c 2nd century stele from Phrygia showstwo more likely possibilities122 It displays two men who havebeen killed by the Bithynian Menas One has a conventionalribbed oval thureos while the other has a ribbed rectangularthureos One of these two men but we dont know which is aThracian Another grave stone from Bithynia also shows

114 Head D TTT p 15115 Davis N amp CM Kraay The Hellenistic Kingdoms Thames ampHudson London1973 plates 186 187 190116 Venedikov I op cit No 363 and Marazov I op cit Plate 73See wwwthe-thracianscomarmourhtm (shields)117 Head D AOMAPW p 126

118 In the Kystendil museum where I found it See wwwthe-thracianscomarmourhtm (shields)119 Connolly P op cit pp 118-120120 I gained this insight from discussions with dark age re-enactorswho used similar shields for this purpose121 Sekunda N The Ptolemaic Army Montvert Publications Stockport1995 p 22122 Bar-Kochva B Menas Inscription and Corupedion ScriptaClassica Isrealica 1 1974 p 14


Figure 12c The figure supposed to be Seuthes III from the westernside of the dromos of the Kazanluk tomb note how he holds hisspear

Figure 12b Kazanluk tomb

Bithynian infantry with the oval thureos so the oval shield ismore likely123 A 2nd century Bithynian warriors tombstone fromAlexandria also shows a (yellowish or white) oval thureos witha spine boss124 Menas stele is close in date to the battle ofPydna (168) so perhaps the Thracian infantry at Pydna carriedone of these types of shield

Helmets

The most important Thracian helmets styles were ChalkidianCorinthian Thracian Attic and Skythian (or Northern)125

Helmet styles continued in use in Thrace after they had goneout of fashion elsewhere and it took some time before newerversions were taken up by Thracian troops A lot of helmetsfound in Thrace show signs of repeated wear and tear withriveted inserts and tenons126 Many hybrids and variants alsooccur one Thraco-Boeotian model from Moldavia has theskull of the former and the downswept brim of the latter127

Helmets were lined in felt or leather or worn over caps as theremains of a felt cap have been found inside a Thracian helmetfrom Pletena and leather remains inside other helmets128

The Chalkidian helmet (in two models) was the most

common found in central and southern Thrace129 Before 350the most frequently used form was the simple version withengraved stylised eyebrows This has a slight ridge separatingthe skull and sides the neckguard recessed inwards a curvedopening for the ears deep rounded cheekpieces hammered outfrom the sides and a short nosepiece An advanced late fifth-century version from Rouets has a relatively high crown longersickle-shaped cheekpieces and long pronounced eyebrowsmeeting in a curved V-shape across the front Two bands ofengraved ornament separate the skull from the sides130 Anotherlate fifth century example of unknown provenance is decoratedwith griffins on both sides of the crown and palmettos on theeyebrows It may have had iron cheek pieces but it is badlydamaged and these have disappeared131

After 350 a new version of the Chalkidian helmet cameinto use The new type had two variants with fixed or hingedcheekpieces132 One fabulous example of this later construc-tion is all bronze except for iron cheek pieces It looks like aHollywood barbarians helmet as it has tall bronze horns andfittings for a Greek style horsehair crest It was found in a 4thcentury grave at Bryastovets near the Black Sea133 In the fixedform the neckguard shaped to fit the back of the neck ex-tends towards the shoulders while the broad cheekpieces havevertical sides toward the cheeks curving up at the back andover the ears The brows are lightly profiled and there is avestigial nosepiece The crown is raked back sharply from the

123 Rumsheid F amp W Held Erinnerungen an Mokazis 1stMitt 441994 pp89-106 Tafel 20 This shows an early 2nd century Bithynianfunary banquet battle scene and hunting scene on a grave monumentfor members of an indigenous family of notables with Thraco-Bithynian names It was found under 8m of sediment at Adliye on theSangarius thought to be the site of ancient Tarsos124 Sekunda N op cit Fig 77125 Archibald Z loc cit126 Archibald Z op cit p 252127 Head D TTT p 18 Best JGP op cit plate 6 See wwwthe-thracianscomhelmets_mainhtm128 Salminen T (ed) Ancient Thrace Descriptions of the exhibitsExhibition in the Amos Anderson Art Museum Helsinki January 22-April 16 2000 p 13

129 Archibald opcit p 201130 Ibid131 National Archaeological Museum Inv No 4013 Gold derThraker No 187132 Archibald opcit p 201133 I Venedikov Thracian Treasures from Bulgaria 1976 item246 p55 Gold der Thraker 1980 item 242 Head opcit p21


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Figure 13 Phalera (bridle cheekpiece) 7cm diameter from Letnitsa mid-fourthcentury BC This shows clearly how horses were harnessed Museum of His-tory Lovech inv No 591

sides134 On helmets with hinged cheekpieces there is a highwell-rounded crown from front to back A gentle curve sepa-rates the skull from the straight neckguard shaped at the loweredge and the tongue-shaped cheekpieces are longer135 Thesemore complicated helmets are likely to have belonged to thenoble cavalry and Thracian commanding officers who alsowore elaborate Greek parade helmets including a sheet goldcomposite version found at Panagyurishte136

After the Macedonian conquest many of the helmets mim-icked the Thracian caps so that these helmets are known asPhrygian (or Thracian) helmets The Thracian helmet ap-peared in Greece in the middle of the 5th Century but strangelyenough although more of this type have been found in Thracethan anywhere else it is rarely found in Thracian burials be-fore the Hellenistic era137 It was distinguished by a peak toshade and protect the eyes a short neck guard and long cheek-pieces shaped to fit the face pointed at the chin and was some-times decorated with a stylised beard and moustache in reliefThe skull shape varied enormously sometimes it was low androunded sometimes conical but the most spectacular and dis-tinctive was the Phrygian type with a high forward sweepingmetal ridge very similar to the shape of the traditional capThey were made mostly from bronze (often in a single piece)but some included iron A Phrygian style helmet found atPletena in the Rhodopes mountains of Bulgaria (with arhomphaia) was made with a sheet of bronze to cover the lowerface moulded to imitate beard locks and a moustache The toppart of the helmet was made of iron sheets joined together with

the aid of iron bands and rivets138 Such helmets were oftencrested and sometimes had extra crests or feathers as side-or-naments A recently discovered early 4th century Thracian ex-ample from Pletena is also extensively decorated with silverappliqueacutes139 In the Kazanluk tomb paintings the Thracian hel-met is commonest but two warriors wear strange yellow circu-lar flat-topped hats These may be from an unknown Thraciantribe but it is more likely that they are Macedonian nobleswearing variants of their distinctive leather cap the kausia140

One figure however is bare-headed and long-haired like an-other figure at Alexandrovo Other infantrymen in the Kazanlukpaintings wear bronze Attic helmets most with a pale bluecrests141

Body Armour

Body armour is rare in Thracian graves although it is also rarein tombs from coastal Macedonia and Chalkidike which clearlydoes not match the real-life situation there142 It was limited toThracian commanders and nobles such as Seuthes heavycavalry bodyguard until the presumed wider introduction ofmail shirts for infantry by the Roman client-kingdom Therewere two traditions from northern and southern ThraceInitially the armour was made of leather andor bronze but

134 Archibald Z op cit p 253135 Ibid136 Ibid p 254137 Ibid

138 Salminen T (ed) op cit p13139 Fol A (ed) opcit No 34 p79140 Saatsoglu-Paliadeli C Aspects of Ancient Macedonian CostumeJHS 1993 p 136 Head AOTMAPW p135 says the kausia likecaps are painted in the ochre used for bronze so they could be sometype of helmet but this seems unlikely141 Head D The Rhomphaia Lives Slingshot 77 May 1978 p 10142 Archibald Z op cit p 204


iron armour started to appear in the fourth centuryDescriptions of Homeric Thracians and archaeological

evidence show that Greek armour was in use in Thrace longbefore the classical period Rhesus had marvellous goldenarmour of the rarest workmanship143 His sleeping bodyguardlaid their splendid armour on the ground beside them in anorderly three rows The bell corselet was used in Thrace untilthe fifth century when it was obsolete in Greece The mostinteresting example is a fifth century bronze bell cuirass fromRouets It has an abdominal plate or mitre still attached bymeans of silvered nails to the bottom of the breastplate Thisattachment is unique in Thrace indeed it has rarely been foundoutside Crete It is unlikely to have been used except fordismounted action as the mitre would have made ridingextremely uncomfortable144

The primitive bell type made few allowances forcomfort and ease of movement The armholes were rathersharp and there was a pronounced waist band with rolled edgesprojecting outwards at the lower end145 They were decoratedsimply with the chest muscles ending in three-petalled lotusesfishs tails or engraved marine monsters and with otheranatomical details enhanced by seven- and nine-petalledpalmettoes The marine monsters (ketoi) had a long snoutsnapping jaws and spiky mane rather like a chinese dragonUnlike Greek examples which were worn with pterygesattached to an undergarment the Thracian cuirasses have a rowof holes along the edges to take a lining which indicates theywere worn without pteryges146

Other non-metallic armour was in use at the same timeIt is possible that groups of gilded silver appliqueacutes found infifth century Thracian tombs were originally attached to a leatherparade corselet similar to the later iron corselets from Verginaand Prodromion These were decorated with sheet goldornaments (gorgons and lions head masks) Something similarbelonging to a composite outfit may have been found atPanagyurishte There the armour had rusted away leaving goldstrips and studs as well as six rectangular silver appliques withthe head of Apollo and two low-relief silver discs showingHeracles and the Nemean lion147 Another leather jerkin foundnear Lovets had a belt to which were attached thongs for ascabbard This was fixed with a bronze ring decorated with areclining doe148 A late 2nd century coin of Mostis a Thracianking shows a smooth corselet with short sleeves but no otherdetail is discernable149 The mounted warriors on the 5th 6th

century Lovech silver gilt belt wear leather armour with

pteryges150 Other warriors wore broad scale iron belts two ofwhich have been found in Thrace These belts are like Uratianbronze belts of around 600 used later by the Skythians and invarious parts of the Achaemenid Empire so it may be thatThracian warriors wore something similar They were originallyfixed to some organic substance either leather or linen It isnot clear whether such a belt would have been worn below thecuirass or as an alternative to it151 At the Battle of Issus (333)one translation of Curtius III99 says of the Thracians thesetoo were in light armour152 This has been used to suggest theywore non-metallic corselets but the Penguin translation sayswho were also light armed which seems more likely

Xenophon records Seuthes Odrysian cavalry wearingtheir breastplates in 400153 This probably represents anarmoured bodyguard rather than suggesting that all Thraciancavalry were armoured154 They most likely wore the lateimproved version of the bell type bronze plate cuirass Thiswas used in Thrace until the middle of the 4th century The waistband disappeared replaced by a narrow out-turned flange andmore carefully modelled anatomical relief lines Instead of anupstanding collar to protect the throat the neck was cut lowleaving the upper chest exposed This was covered by a crescentshaped pectoral of silver-plated gilded iron decorated withbands of relief vegetal ornamentation155 It had a forward collarand was held on by a narrow hinged strip fastened round theback of the neck with some form of catchplate156

Such iron-backed collars were worn both in Thrace andMacedon but seem to have had a longer tradition in ThraceThey were designed to be symbols of rank There may havebeen two types of collar one for parade and one for battle asa gorget of sheet gold was found with a plain iron collar in aMacedonian tomb at Vergina Also two other collars (fromthe 4th century Mal tepe tumulus and Vurbitsa) were foundwithout cuirasses At Gaugamela Alexander wore an iron gorgetquite probably of the same type as these pectorals157 A c 350advanced form of iron pectoral with sheet metal inlay fromKaterini was worn over a composite cuirass decorated withgilded silver appliqeacutes This contrasts to a more workmanlikeMacedonian gorget of bronze scales on leather that is datedfrom around the same time158 It is not known what armour wasworn when the bell style went out of fashion but a compositeiron type with iron collar seems likely to be replaced lateramongst officers by the muscled cuirass159

Greaves

Only a few early Thracian cavalry (possibly only the officers)143 Homer Iliad X144 Archibald Z ibid p 198 Head D op cit p19 NationalHistory Museum Sofia guide 1986 No 68 Venedikov I op citpp 50-51145 Archibald Z op cit p 197146 Ibid pp 197-198147 Z Archibald (pp 199 256) does not show these but mid 5th cen-tury silver-gilt appliques from another suit of armour were found inGolyamata Mound Douvanli (north of Plovdiv) 5 lions heads agorgons head and two showing winged Nike on a chariot Ognenova-Marinova L LArmure des Thraces Archaeolgia Bulgarica 32000p16 has a reconstruction while the best pictures of the appliques arein Venedikov I amp T Gerassimov Thrakische Kunst Leipzig 1976figs 226-228148 Archibald Z ibid p199 pp 256-257149 Youroukova Y op cit pp 34-38

150 Archibald Z op cit Marazov I op cit p175 Venedikov I ampGerassimov T op cit Figs 248 amp 250 see fig 9151 Archibald Z op cit152 Grant Ch The Thracians Military Modelling December 1976153 Xenophon Anabasis 7340154 Head D TTT p 18155 See wwwthe-thracianscomarmourhtm (click on Body Armour)156 Head D AOTMAPW p 128 D Head TTT p18 Archibald opcit p 198157 Plutarch Alexander 32 (Penguin translation) says it was a steelgorget set with precious stones158 Archibald Z op cit pp 255- 257 Head D AOTMAPW p 128159 Ibid


wore greaves There is no evidence that any Thracian infantrywore greaves until the fourth century One pair was found nearKyustendil with fourth century infantry gear (including an ovalshield) and probably belonged to a Thracian mercenary or aMacedonian160 Greaves later became more popular - At Pydna(168 ) First marched the Thracians who inspired themost terror they were of great stature with white [or bright]and glittering shields [thureoi] and black tunics under themtheir legs armed with greaves161

There were two types of greave found in Thrace- the na-tive and Greek types Two elaborately decorated silver giltThracian ceremonial greaves have been found one at Vratsa inTriballian territory and one at Agighiol on Getic land162 Theyshow the face of the Thracian mother goddess at the knee Anarmoured Thracian horseman wearing the same greaves is onone of the Letnitsa plaques As these greaves gleam with whiteand glittering metal white and glittering shields (thureoi) andgreaves could possibly mean that both the shields and greavesworn at Pydna were faced with polished white metal - silver ortin laid over the bronze163 A pair of 5th century greaves foundat Starosel in 2000 (possibly in Sitalkes tomb) were decoratedwith double axe-heads the symbol of royalty164

Greaves of Greek type were rarer than other pieces of importedarmour Only four pairs have been found in Thrace Two pairsof these greaves (from different locations) had been repairedOne pair had been lengthened in the process and the left onehad originally been made for the right leg This pair had alsobeen fitted with iron chains at the back165 Most were held inplace by their own elasticity except for some Hellenisticexamples which were strapped166 A 4th century pair fromPletena has traces of the tying straps below the knee and abovethe ankle167

Weapons

Spears

Thracian cavalry would be mainly armed with sword (usuallythe kopis) and 2 cornel wood javelins or the composite bow(kept in a leather gorytos) if they were Getai168 They are al-ways illustrated with only one or two javelins but it is clearfrom battle accounts that the infantry carried more the number

depending on their length (between 11m and 2m)169 OdrysianCavalry javelins were 15 to 18 metres in length and tippedwith iron or bronze heads They could be thrown immediatelybefore contact or used as a thrusting weapon Xenophon ap-pears to have favoured this arrangement -two short javelinsone to be thrown and the other kept for hand-to-hand com-bat170

There are references in Greek texts to Thracian spears171

but these are unfortunately not further described Most warriorburials contained multiple spearheads with blades of varyinglengths The principal forms were derived from older Iron Agetypes though the total length is often equal to or smaller thanthe blades of their early predecessors Sixth-century and laterexamples tend to be much shorter and narrower Javelin headstended to be smaller thinner and longer than other spear headsthough often there is no difference Some javelin heads wereobviously specifically designed for throwing rather than usedhand to hand172

Three principal shapes were in use between the fifth andthird centuries The straight -sided type had a pronouncedmidrib the blade base jutting sharply away from the socketThis was the commonest form used by the Getai With theleaf-shaped type the blade base curved smoothly into the socketThe third type was the barbed Skythian type of javelin headThe number and range of types increased in the later fourthand during the third century173

Xenophon says that the javelin should be hurled fromhorseback as far away as possible in order to give enough timefor the horse to turn around and for the transfer of the secondjavelin to the right hand The horseman should throw forwardhis left side while drawing back his right then rising bodilyfrom the thighs he should let fly the missile with the pointslightly upwards The dart so discharged will carry with thegreatest force and to the farthest distance we may add toowith the truest aim if at the moment of discharge the lance issteadily eyeing the mark at the instant of discharge174

In the Alexandrovo tomb the riders are armed with a singleknobbed spear (with a butt spike) and a straight sword hang-ing from the left hip All the spears are wielded over arm Thepresence of the butt spike is really interesting as it indicatesthat this spear was not meant to be thrown but used in hand-to-hand combat like the Macedonian xyston or the Greek kamax175

Two such weapons about 2m long one possibly with a buttspike are also held by a helmeted groom painted on the domeof the Kazanluk tomb Alexander at the battle of the Granicusis described as using the xyston which had a narrow blade likea spear and had a butt spike which could be used in a pinch ifthe spear was shattered in combat176 He is described as usingthe xyston overhand much like the Hoplite fighting style to thrustat the necks and faces of his foes The (probably Macedonian)

160 This is the pair I photographed in Kyustendil museum it is notmentioned elsewhere - the description comes from Evgeni Paunovand another description of the associated helmet in the Helsinkiexhibition catalogue161 Plutarch Aemilius Paulus 18162 Fol A TampTT pp 41 87 amp 96 wwwthe-thracianscomgreaves_mainhtm Archibald Z op cit p255 items 151 and 152from I Daci D Head TTT pp18-19163These suggestions and alternative translations were supplied byDuncan Head during discussion about this book164 Webber Ch The Alexandrovo Tomb and Other RecentDiscoveries Slingshot 216 July 2001 p 50 wwwthe-thracianscomalexandrovo_tombhtm httpwwwgeocitiescomvakarr165 Fol A AT Helsinki Nos 38-39 pp79-80 Archibald Z op citp 255166 Snodgrass AM Arms and Armour of the Greeks JohnHopkins Baltimore 1999 p 53167 Archibald Z op cit p 255168 Head D AOTMAPW pp 127- 129 Head D TTT pp 17-20Grant Ch loc cit Barker Ph op cit fig 5

169 Warry loc cit170 Xenophon On Horsemanship XII171 eg Euripides Hecuba 1155172 Archibald Z op cit p 202173 Ibid pp 202-203 257174 Xenophon On Horsemanship XII175 Spence IG The Cavalry of Classical Greece Oxford 1995p53 It is possible that this was a special spear used for the boarhunt- the closeness implied by its use being a suitably heroicclimax to the hunt176 Arrian 115


cavalry on the left-hand side of the eastern frieze of the Kazanluktomb dromos are all armed with this weapon wielded under-arm The other cavalry figures in the dromos paintings all bran-dish their spears overarm except for the figure supposed to beSeuthes III who wields his spear underarm Unfortunately thepresence of butt spikes cant be determined due to position ofthe figures and the poor state of the painting

The knobbed spear shafts are new - they look almost likecane A similar knobbly-shafted javelin can be seen on theAlexander Mosaic fallen to the ground177 That is usually iden-tified as Persian but the prevalence of these weapons on theAlexandrovo paintings means the mosaic javelin could havebelonged to one of Alexanders Balkan troops However themosaic javelin looks quite different it is thorny not knobblyso this is highly speculative One of the gold amphora-rhtyonsfrom the 4th century Panagyurishte treasure shows similarknobbly philosophers staffs but otherwise these types of spearshafts are unknown Probably they are still made from cornelwood known for its exceptionally strength and durability(though apparently it was best used after nine years season-ing) The cornel tree is short but long enough to be used forspear shafts178 Perhaps only cornel wood trees from theAlexandrovo area produce wood with this knobbly appearanceor else the spearshafts shown were produced in a hurry per-haps during the hunt Hawthorn is another possibility

Swords amp Knives

The Thracians were famous for their forward curved swordsbut they also used a long sword and the Skythian akinakes179

Swords were most often only secondary weapons and to beginwith only nobles could afford them the rest of the troops madedo with curved daggers Later on though swords became morecommon From an early date there was a typically Thraciansword known for being longer than other swords180 The Iliadsays Helenus then struck Deipyrus with a great Thraciansword181 The Iliad also mentions a silver-studded sword-a goodly Thracian sword182 and Ovid says that Polydorus iskilled disfigured with deep wounds of Thracian swords183

An unpublished fourth century Thracian tomb excavatednear Shipka in Bulgaria in 1993 contains paintings of two longstraight swords that would be good candidates184 These longerswords may have inspired Iphicrates to introduce longer swordsfor his Greek troops Despite the apparent similarity to Celticswords and the large numbers of long Celtic swords in Bulgar-ian museums it is unlikely that the Celtic swords influencedthe Thracians185 Length or the curved blade may be what dis-

tinguished Thracian swords from other early (Greek) swordsThe straight Greek xiphos was commoner in Thrace during thefourth century and was widespread in soldiers graves of thethird In the Hellenistic period a straight Macedonian stylewas also widespread this had a bone or ivory handle and thehilt and pommel were cast in one piece with the blade186 Swordswould probably be worn from a baldric187

There are a few instances of Thracians using swords astheir primary weapon instead of just as a sidearm The Dii hilltribesmen are always referred to by Thucydides as swords-men or armed with swords (machairophoroi)188 The onlyother time that Thracian swordsmen are mentioned is whenCroesus hired many Thracian swordsmen189 for the Lydianarmy Thracian infantry probably continued to use a variety ofnative sword styles until the Roman conquest

Thracian cavalry however are always shown on metal-work tomb paintings and reliefs with long straight swords(probably the xiphos) from around the 3rd century onwards Forinstance in the Alexandrovo tomb the rider in the white tunichas a long straight sword in a scabbard of a ridiculously largesize This scabbard is very like those found elsewhere with thexiphos The bulbous shape of the xiphos meant it worked rea-sonably well both as a slashing and stabbing sword in contrastto the curved sword which could only be used for slashingNevertheless the change to the straight sword is curiousXenophon recommends the kopis for cavalry use and modernexperiments have shown that the chief advantage a cavalrymanhas over an infantryman is in the downward stroke of his swordwhich has greater force with a curved blade190

For fighting other cavalry it seems that swords were onlyused as a last resort Livy relates that the Macedonians weresurprised and disheartened when they saw the unusually se-vere wounds caused by the Roman Spanish swords toMacedonian cavalrymen They had seen wounds caused byspears arrows and rarely by lances since they were accus-tomed to fighting with Greeks and Illryrians 191 It is quitelikely that the Thracians fought in the same style as the Greeksand Illryrians

The Machaira or Kopis and Other Thracian CurvedSwords

The kopis or machaira was a heavy slashing sword with thecutting edge on the inside of a long slightly curved blade Itcame into general use in Greece early in the fifth century192 Awell-preserved example equipped with an ivory-decorated hiltwas found near Duvanli 193 However this sword was rare inclassical Thrace Only two other pre-Hellenistic examples havebeen found there During that time this weapon was reservedfor use by the noble heavy cavalry and had considerable pres-

177 This was brought to my notice by Duncan Head author ofAOTMAPW178 Florov I amp N Florov the authors of The 3000 year old hat inan email received 26 November 2001179 See wwwthe-thracianscomswordshtm180 C S Grant The Peltast Slingshot 51 pp 9-17 amp 20-21181 Homer Iliad XIII182 Homer Iliad 23805183 Ovid Metamorphoses 13778184 This information was supplied by Evgeni Paunov during a visitto the area He said that unfortunately a large number of tombs thatwere excavated decades ago still have not been published185 There are also many fine long bronze rapiers and other bronzeage swords

186 Archibald Z op cit p 257-258187 Head D AOTMAPW p 126 Snodgrass AM op cit p85188 Thucydides 298 2100 727189 Xenophon Cyropaedia 6210190 Xenophon On Horsemanship XII191 XXXI35 200 BC192 Sekunda N Greek Swords and Swordsmanship OspreyMilitary Journal Vol 3 Issue 1 2001 pp 34-42 Snodgrass AMpp84-85 Connolly P op cit p63 Archibald Z op cit p203193 82 cm long from the Golyana tumulus at Douvanli ArchibaldZ loc cit Hodinott RF op cit p63 figure 4


tige value One 3rd century kopis found in Thrace is 46cm longand 55cm wide It is decorated with a longitudinal groove inthe centre and a band of engraved circles with central dots ar-ranged between the groove and the outer edge194

Mercenary Thracian cavalry of the late Hellenistic pe-riod also used the sica a large curved sword This seems to bethe Roman name for any curved sword or knife as it was alsoused for the sword of the Thracian style of gladiator and forCeltic knives so the cavalry sica was probably like the kopisor the traditional Thracian curved swords In 130 a Thraciancavalryman fighting for a Pergamene pretender cut off the headof the Roman consul Crassus with a single blow from his sicaIn 163 at the battle of Marissa a Thracian cavalryman (prob-ably using a sica) chopped an arm off a Jewish rebel also witha single blow195

Several styles of curved blades have been found all overThrace Similarly the Kazanluk paintings show a mixture ofstrange long curved swords being used by infantry- perhapsthese are what Thucydides is calling machaira that beingthe nearest Greek equivalent These swords are curved bothways and look unlike any other Greek or Roman sword (somemay in fact be rhomphaias)

The light cavalry were probably armed only with curvedknives as their secondary weapon at least until the end of theclassical era Knives are not often depicted in art but the mostcommon found in Thrace are the curved tanged dagger andthe T-shaped knife The single-edged curved knife was a popu-lar weapon that even penetrated into the Pontic regions in thesecond half of the fourth century196

Tactics amp Formations

Not much is known about Thracian cavalry tactics Xenophondescribes how the cavalry was moved to the rear for a nightmarch and also how the cavalry charged to the rescue when hewas attacked trumpet sounding Iphicrates describes Odrysiancavalry being kept back by torches being put into the horsesfaces 197 Iphicrates switched sides and was soon carrying offa great deal of loot from Odrysian territory pursued by a largecavalry force Having few horsemen himself he gave themburning torches and told them to charge the Thracians TheOdrysian horses could not stand the flames and fled198

Thracian cavalry in Macedonian service were usuallydeployed on the left flank but when fighting for their own kingit can safely be assumed that the king and his bodyguard foughton the right flank like Alexander with the lighter cavalryforming up on both flanks of the army where terrain permitted

Thracian cavalry were skilled in both skirmish and closecombat fighting When skirmishing with the enemy small in-dependent squadrons would ride along the front or flanks ofthe enemy discharging volleys of javelins then wheel away to

return to their battle line and replenish their ammunition Whenengaging both infantry or cavalry in hand to hand combat theyformed closely packed formations several ranks deep andcharged the enemy When fighting against other cavalry theThracians would advance and retreat alternately dischargingtheir weapons and then retiring199 Alternatively the heavycavalry may have thrown one javelin then attacked with thekamax

The Thracians were exceptionally mobile and able to relyon heavy javelin and some archery fire200 At the battle of theHydaspes Curtius says Alexander sent the Agrianes andThracian light-armed against the elephants for they were bet-ter at skirmishing than fighting at close quarters These releaseda thick barrage of missiles on both elephants and drivers201

Hence their preferred tactic was to skirmish their wooded andhilly terrain was well suited to this ploy202 These tactics wereoften successful mainly when their opponents lacked lighttroops they outnumbered their opponents or caught them insuitable terrain They liked ambushes like that on the Romancolumn after Magnesia or night attacks under cover of dark-ness like that on Mardonius Persians

The encounter between Xenophons 10000 and a com-bined Bithynian-Persian army in 401203 is another good exampleof the strengths and weaknesses of Thracian armies In thisbattle the Greek peltasts were placed on the flanks of the pha-lanx but charged ahead of the main body They were met byPersian cavalry and the Bithynians (peltasts and light cavalry)and driven back However when the hoplites came up sangthe paean and raised a shout as they brought their spears downfor the attack the Bithynians and Persians ran away

Little is known about Thracian formations anddeployment The cavalry formed into a wedge which made acharge more effective The Thracians learnt this formation fromthe Skythians and the Macedonians learnt it from theThracians204 In one battle the Triballi drew up their forces infour ranks In the first rank were placed the weaker men andbehind them the stronger men The cavalry formed the thirdrank but the rear rank was of women who if the men waveredrallied them with cries and taunts205

Night attacks were a favourite Thracian tactic The Bryginight attack on the Persians206 was so successful that (incombination with the loss of the Persian fleet) it induced thePersians to retreat It seems to have been a Thracian custom tomarch to battle drunk as well

Clearchus encamped near the mountains of ThraceWhen the Thracians gathered he knew that drunk and rushing

194 Fol A AT Helsinki Item 45 p81195 Sekunda N opcit p18 He suggests that the sica mayhave been similar to the Rhomphaia when used in Thracianhands but the rhomphaia would have been too unwieldy forcavalry use so a curved sword is more likely196 Archibald Z loc cit197 Demosthenes Against Aristocrates 8 198 Polyaenus Stratagems 3960

199 Livy XXXI36 although this describes later Macedonian cavalryit is likely that Thracian cavalry used the same methods200 Cheshire I op cit p15201 Curtius VIII14 24-30202 Cheshire I ibid Head D AOTMAPW p 51 regarding the ter-rain Livy XL22 (181 BC) says that Philip V tried to climb MountHeamus but as they reached the high levels they were increasinglyfaced with wooded and often impassable ground Eventually they cameupon a track so shaded that it was scarcely possible to see the sky forthe density of the trees and the interlacing branches203 Xenophon Anabasis VI5204 Arrian Taktica 16 6-9205 Nicolaus of Damascus in his Collection of Strange Customs [NicDamas Mor Mirab frag 116J]206 Herodotus VI 46


Balent M The Compendium of Weapons Armour and Castles Pal-ladium Press Barker Ph Armies and Enemies of the Macedonianand Punic Wars 1st edition WRG Devizes 1971

Bar-Kochva B Menas Inscription and Corupedion ScriptaClassica Isrealica 1 1974 p14

Best JGP Thracian Peltasts and their influence on Greek warfare(Volume 1 of the Studies of the Dutch Archaeological amp Histori-cal Society) Woiters-Noordhoff Groningen 1969

Bevan ER The House of Seleucus Routledge amp Keegan Paul Lon-don 1966Bose S Realms of Silver amp Gold The Art of theThracians Archaeology Odyssey JulyAugust 2000 pp 48 -55

Bloedow EF On wagons and shields Alexanders crossing ofMount Haemus in 335 BC Ancient History Bulletin 103-4(1996)

Brunt PA Alexanders Macedonian Cavalry Journal of HellenicStudies 83 1963 p 27

Burrell R The Oxford Childrens Ancient History OUP 1997 Bibliographia Thracia I Institute of Thracology Sophia 1984Cassin-Scott J Costumes and Settings for Historical Plays Volume

1 The Classical Period Batsford London1979Casson S Macedonia Thrace Illyria Groningen 1968Catalogue from the National Historical Museum in Sophia Sofia

1985Cernenko EV The Skythians 700-300 BC Osprey Men-at-Arms

Series London 1986Cheshire I The Thraciansshy Auxiliaries to the Hellenistic World

Military Miniatures April 1987Collezione Castellani - Le Ceramiche Museo Nazionale Etrusco di

Villa Giula Rome 1985Connolly P Greece and Rome at War Macdonald London 1981I Daci Firenze 1997 (catalogue of the Rumanian exhibition in Italy)Danov Ch The Greave From Vratsa Sofia 1980Danov Ch Thrace Sophia 1982Davis N amp C M Kraay The Hellenistic Kingdoms Thames amp Hudson

London1973Dimitrov DP amp M Egraveiegraveikova The Thracian City of Seuthopolis BAR

Supp ser 38 Oxford 1978Dragan J C We the Thracians Nagard Publisher Sophia 1976Dumitrescu V amp A Vulpe Dacia Before Dromichaites Bucharest

1988Durham ME Some Tribal Origins Laws and Customs of the Balkans

London Allen amp Unwin 1928Florov I amp N Florov The 3000-year-old Hat Golden Vine Pub-

lishers Vancouver 2001Fol A (ed) Der Thrakische Silbershatz aus Rogosen Bulgarien Sofia

1988Fol A (ed) Ancient Thrace Elektra Publications (International Foun-

dation Europa Antiqua) 2000Fol A (ed) Ancient Thrace F G Lonnberg Helsinki 2000- cata-

logue of the 2000 Helsinki exhibition (with descriptions of theitems supplied separately by Timo Saleminen of the Amos Ander-son museum)

Fol A M Chichikova T Ivanov amp T Teofilov The Thracian Tombnear the Villiage of Sveshtari Svyat Publishers Sofia 1986

Fol A amp I Marazov Thrace and the Thracians St Martins PressNew York 1977

Folsom RS Attic Black Figured Pottery Noyes Press New Jersey1975

Fuchs JW et al Classics Illustrated Dictionary London 1974Fuller JFC The Generalship of Alexander the Great London 1958General Secretariat of East Macedonia-Thrace Thrace Athens 1994Georgieva R T Spiridonov amp Maria R Thracian Ethnology Univ

Press Sv Kliment Ohridski Sofia 1999Gilbert A Going to War in Ancient Greece Franklin Watts London

2000Giurescu CC Chronological History of Rumania Bucharest 1972Gold der Thraker Ausstellung anlaumlssich der 1300-Jahrfeier des

from the mountains they would attack at night207

Polyaenus mentions many stratagems employed bygenerals such as Iphicrates and Clearchus to defeat Thraciannight attacks208 One of these included the Thracian practice ofbanging your weapons together even when engaged in a nightattack209 Xenophon also says that Seuthes regarded nightmarches as commonplace However he also relates that even asmall force of Thracians that marched at night would oftenbecome disorganised - the cavalry would get separated fromthe infantry210 It may be that their success led to the adoptionof this tactic by the Greeks and the disastrous (but almostsuccessful) night attack on Syracuse by Demosthenes211

The Roman client-king of Thrace King Rhoemetalcesaccustomed the Thracians to the use of Roman weapons mili-tary standards and discipline212 Assuming that his infantry weretrained as Roman-style auxiliaries rather than legionaries theymay have practiced a more disciplined version of the same basictactics Only a proportion would have received such training the rest would have remained untamed savages An account ofThracian auxiliaries destroying a Gallic force on a mountaintop shows that they retained their effectiveness while in Ro-man service213

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES

AOTMAPW - Duncan Head Armies of the Macedonian and PunicWars 2nd Edition W R G Devizes 1982

AG Ivan Marazov (Ed) Ancient Gold The Wealth of the ThraciansTreasures from the Republic of Bulgaria Harry N Abrams NewYork 1998

AG Helsinki - Alexander Fol (ed) Ancient Thrace F G LonnbergHelsinki 2000- catalogue of the 2000 Helsinki exhibition (withdescriptions of the items supplied separately by Timo Saleminenof the Amos Anderson museum)

AT - Alexander Fol (ed) Ancient Thrace Elektra Publications(International Foundation Europa Antiqua) 2000

Tamp TT - Alexander Fol amp Ivan Marazov Thrace and the ThraciansSt Martins Press New York 1977

TAG - NV Sekunda The Ancient Greeks Osprey Elite Series London1996

TT -Charles Grant The Thracians in Military Modelling Novemberamp December 1976

TTT - D Head Thracian Troop Types Slingshot September 1978

TP - Charles Grant The Peltast Slingshot 51 pp 9-17 amp 20-21

207 Polyaenus Stratagems 226208 eg Polyaenus Stratagems 226 162 2210 3950 313209 Polyaenus Stratagems 226210 Xenophon Anabasis VII 3211 Best JGP op cit pp 17-29212 Florus II XXVII The Thracian War213 Tacitus Histories


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American Journal of Archaeology 49 1945Vos MF Skythian Archers in Archaic Vase Painting J B Wolters

Groningen 1963Warry J Warfare in the Classical World Salamander London 1980


Webber Ch The Thracians Colourful Barbarian Warriors from theNorth in Wargames Illustrated 167 August 2001 pp44-48

Webber Ch The Alexandrovo Tomb and Other Recent Discover-ies in Slingshot 216 July 2001 pp 47-50

Webber Ch Like Beasts of Prey Slingshot 207 January 2000 pp48-53 Slingshot 209 May 2000 pp 33-38 Slingshot 210 July 2000pp 38-43

Webber Ch The Bithynians Slingshot 204 July 1999 pp48-52Wiesner J Die Thraker Stuttgart 1963Wilcox P amp GA Embleton Romes Enemies Germans and Dacians

Osprey Men-at-Arms Series 129 London 1987Windrow M The Greek Hoplite Franklin Watts London 1985Xenophon On Horsemanship Translated by MH Morgan JA Allen

amp Co 1967Youroukova Y Coins of the Ancient Thracians BAR Supplemen-

tary Series 4 Oxford 1976Zhivkova L The Kazanluk Tomb Verlag Aurel Bongers

Reckinghausen West Germany 1975

the death of the commander and loss of the battle Commandswere transmitted by trumpet calls12 Thracian musicians usedhorns for giving signals and also trumpets of raw ox-hide thatcoud play music like that of a harp13

It is probable that different Thracian tribes favoureddifferent fighting styles and had different proportions of troop-types in their armies For instance in the Iliad Euphemesarrayed the Ciconians men of the spear14 and Pryaechmes ledPaeonians armed with the bow Mountain tribes were morewarlike and favoured infantry while those from the plainsfavoured cavalry The Odrysai fielded 8000 horse (28) and20000 foot against Lysimachos15 A detachment of Odrysianssent by Seuthes to aid the Spartans in Bithynia in 398 wascomposed of 200 cavalry (40) and 300 peltasts16 Thucydidessays that the Getai and their neighbours by the Danube were allmounted archers in the Skythian style17 However Alexanderfaced a Getic army of 4000 horse and 10000 foot or about28 cavalry18 Seuthes hired 2000 Getic light troops for useagainst the Athenians in the Thracian Chersonese19 which showsthey may have been a regular component of Odrysian armiesSo an Odrysian royal army might contain between 25 and40 cavalry while the army of a single tribe or group of hilltribes might have much less

The Odrysian Cavalry

Horse riding epitomised the Thracians Euripides and Homercalled the Thracians a race of horsemen and Thrace theland of the Thracian horsemen20 This description seems jus-tified as even though the cavalry only made up a small propor-tion of their army they were quite numerous For instancealthough Sitalkes army was only one-third cavalry this repre-sented about 50000 men The majority of these were Odrysiansand Getai21 Thus the Odrysians alone could outnumber all thefifth-century Greek cities and other tribal kingdoms collectivelyin cavalry forces22 However Macedonian heavy cavalry op-

erated against them with impunity when Sitalkes invadedMacedonia The Macedonians made cavalry attacks on theThracian army when they saw their opportunity Whenever theydid so being excellent horsemen and armed with breastplatesno one could stand up to them23 This happened again dur-ing the battle of Lyginus between Alexander and the Triballi24

The cavalry were chiefly unarmoured javelin-armed skir-mishers with relatively few armoured cavalry forming a body-guard for the king25 This might explain why Sitalkes had notroops able to stand up to the heavy Macedonian cavalryAgainst the Greeks though they seem to have had more suc-cess with several Greek armies being wiped out duringcolonisation attempts Perhaps the best evidence for the suc-cess of Thracian cavalry is the way that the mainland Greekstook up Thracian cavalry dress and horsemanship Athenianriders wearing Thracian boots andor Thracian headdress canbe seen on the Parthenon frieze and wearing Thracian cloakson Athenian pottery26

Horses were very important to Thracians and seem tohave been of good quality27 Studies of Thracian horses fromfourth century tombs show that they were larger than steppeponies and at least comparable to the breeds on the Greek main-land which reached 134m or 13 hands They had a long thickmane a short tail and carried their heads high28 The biggestwould have been between 136 and 144m or 14 hands at thewithers similar to stallions of the Przewalski horse29 Thissize between that of a modern pony and a horse is now calleda Galloway It was still small enough that riders who rode withtheir legs straight barely kept their feet off the ground

Horses were trained and bred for racing a prerequisitefor successful cavalry warfare Xenophon rates Thracian horsesto be as good as Persian and Greek horses and says that theOdrysians habitually ran their horse races downhill30 In theIliad a Trojan spy reports that the Thracian king Rhesus hasthe finest and strongest horses he has ever seen whiter thansnow and fleeter than any wind that blows31 The Megariansasked an oracle who were better then they The extraordinaryreply received was Better than all other land is the land ofPelasgian Argos Thracian mares are the best and theLacedaemonian women32 Vergil describes three Thracianhorses One had white fetlocks and a snowy star on the fore-head another was a piebald while a third was dappled withwhite Horses in the Kazanluk paintings do not have any mark-ings and are different shades of brown except for a single white

12 Xenophon Anabasis 741913 Ibid 733214 Illiad Chapter 215 Diodorus Siculus XVIII14216 Xenophon Hellenica III 2217 Thucydides 29618 Arrian 14 1519 Polyaenus Stratagems of War 73820 Euripides Hecabe 7-10 (Penguin)Polydorus To Thrace to the palace of his old friend Polymestorwho farms the fertile plain of this peninsula and rules over a race ofhorsemen with his swordp 84 (707-709) Hecabe It was my own trusted friend the Thracianhorseman to whose house Priam had sent him secretlyHomer Iliad 131 (Loeb)Now Zeus when he had brought the Trojans and Hector to the shipsleft the combatants there to have toil and woe unceasingly but him-self turned away his bright eyes and looked afar upon the land of theThracian horsemenHomer Iliad XIVVenus now went back into the house of Jove while Juno darted downfrom the summits of Olympus She passed over Pieria and fair Emathiaand went on and on till she came to the snowy ranges of the Thracianhorsemen over whose topmost crests she sped without ever settingfoot to ground21Thucydides 210022 Archibald Z op cit p 204

23 Thucydides II 10024 Arrian 12 1425 Head AOTMAPW p 29 Head TTT pp 14-1726 Archibald Z ibid pp 204-206 see Fig 127 Although J K Anderson (Ancient Greek Horsemanship Univ ofCalifornia Press Berkeley 1961 p22) deems the Thracian horse tohave been a compound of all possible faults I have not found anyancient sources that agree with him His theory is that as Thrace hadbeen scourged by numerous wars and invasions whatever was goodin the equine sense was stolen or destroyed The same argumentwould make possible an improvement via a mixture of breeds fromAsia the argument about wars etc probably only applies after theMacedonian conquest28 CAH Vol VIII page 54229 Achibald Z op cit p 20530Xenophon On Horsemanship VIII31 Homer Iliad X32 Theocritus Idyl xiv 48


















































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