06-26-2010, 12:16 PM
Congrats guys for a very interesting discussion thus far. These days I have limited time to devote to compile well researched and referenced long posts, so I would only like to make a short comment regarding the thyreos.
The thyreos is a lighter shield that can more efficiently be used in personal combat outside the phalanx than a heavy round hoplon aspis. The 3rd century saw a change in Greek warfare that shifted the weight of normal campaigning from a clash of two hoplitic phalanxes to a series of raiding and irregular battles. Of course ordered battles did occur and the hoplite did retain his traditional equipment, but a more effective light hoplite had to be invented. The success of the Gauls might have played a role, although to my mind the Greeks already knew the concept of thyreos long before that, especially through Italy, but its use alongside the hoplon shows, in my opinion, that it was used for a different type of combat. The Gauls used it as their main phalanx protection against the Macedonians (even though we have no detailed account of their battles against the Macedonians and the demise of Ptolemy Ceraunos), but, if I remember well, the use of their thyreos in the phalanx was characterized by the Greeks as inadequate, obviously in comparison to the hoplon. The use of the thyreophoroi in the accounts regarding the reformation of Philopoemen is described as mainly skirmishing / irregular, while they retained a limited ability to fight in line.
In conclusion, in my opinion, the need for a more effective irregular army that would operate in any terrain mainly as raiders and of course as a countermeasure for raiders, garrisons in passes etc led to peltasts being rearmed with the thyreos rather than hoplites getting rid of the hoplon. In the course of decades, the hoplite saw less and less use in the field and his importance diminished even more.
The thyreos is a lighter shield that can more efficiently be used in personal combat outside the phalanx than a heavy round hoplon aspis. The 3rd century saw a change in Greek warfare that shifted the weight of normal campaigning from a clash of two hoplitic phalanxes to a series of raiding and irregular battles. Of course ordered battles did occur and the hoplite did retain his traditional equipment, but a more effective light hoplite had to be invented. The success of the Gauls might have played a role, although to my mind the Greeks already knew the concept of thyreos long before that, especially through Italy, but its use alongside the hoplon shows, in my opinion, that it was used for a different type of combat. The Gauls used it as their main phalanx protection against the Macedonians (even though we have no detailed account of their battles against the Macedonians and the demise of Ptolemy Ceraunos), but, if I remember well, the use of their thyreos in the phalanx was characterized by the Greeks as inadequate, obviously in comparison to the hoplon. The use of the thyreophoroi in the accounts regarding the reformation of Philopoemen is described as mainly skirmishing / irregular, while they retained a limited ability to fight in line.
In conclusion, in my opinion, the need for a more effective irregular army that would operate in any terrain mainly as raiders and of course as a countermeasure for raiders, garrisons in passes etc led to peltasts being rearmed with the thyreos rather than hoplites getting rid of the hoplon. In the course of decades, the hoplite saw less and less use in the field and his importance diminished even more.
