10-31-2007, 07:12 AM
I don't have any books nearby, but as a starter (with hints to the ancient sources) a short report about Mantineia should be given in "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars" by Duncan Head.
In the years after 227 the Spartans not only incorporated some new persons as citizens but also adopted the sarissa. At Mantineia therefore you can imagine mainly a pike + pelte armed phalanx, not the one with aspis and dory. The dress of the Spartans seems to have remained roughly the same long into the time of the Roman empire. So perhaps in 207 they still wore a chiton (hardly surprising), the red chlamys and had the ugly long beards (although king Kleomenes is shown clean shaven on some coins). Body armour (if worn) and helmets would be the contemporary ones, composite armour, perhaps bronze muscle cuirasses for the wealthier and officers and hellenistic helmets, perhaps even some late examples of pilos helmets (I think no Corinthians :wink: ). As far as I know nobody knows something for sure about Spartan equipment of the time.
The Spartans had no elephants at hand afaik. It is nearly impossible to breed a herd in Europe (only the Romans succeeded with it) and imports from India or Africa were difficult to achieve. Trained elephants were great battle units but extremely expensive (too expensive) for such a small power like Sparte.
I'm sure, soon some others will give you more and deeper informations.
In the years after 227 the Spartans not only incorporated some new persons as citizens but also adopted the sarissa. At Mantineia therefore you can imagine mainly a pike + pelte armed phalanx, not the one with aspis and dory. The dress of the Spartans seems to have remained roughly the same long into the time of the Roman empire. So perhaps in 207 they still wore a chiton (hardly surprising), the red chlamys and had the ugly long beards (although king Kleomenes is shown clean shaven on some coins). Body armour (if worn) and helmets would be the contemporary ones, composite armour, perhaps bronze muscle cuirasses for the wealthier and officers and hellenistic helmets, perhaps even some late examples of pilos helmets (I think no Corinthians :wink: ). As far as I know nobody knows something for sure about Spartan equipment of the time.
The Spartans had no elephants at hand afaik. It is nearly impossible to breed a herd in Europe (only the Romans succeeded with it) and imports from India or Africa were difficult to achieve. Trained elephants were great battle units but extremely expensive (too expensive) for such a small power like Sparte.
I'm sure, soon some others will give you more and deeper informations.
Wolfgang Zeiler
