Peltast
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A peltast was a type of light infantry in Ancient Greece who often served as skirmishers.
Description
Peltasts carried a crescent-shaped wicker shield called pelte (latin: peltarion) as their only protection, hence their name. Their weapons consisted of several javelins, often with throwing straps to increase standoff power. In the Archaic period the Greek martial tradition had been focused almost exclusively on the heavy infantry or hoplites. Peltasts gradually became more important in Greek warfare, in particular during the Peloponnesian War. The Athenian general Iphicrates destroyed a Spartan phalanx in the Battle of Lechaeum using mostly peltasts, although the use of the word peltast in Greek accounts about him is widely disputed, as he has also been said to introduce some reforms in 374 B.C. that produced a type of "peltasts" armed with a small shield, a sword, and a spear instead of javelins. Some authorities state that these later "peltasts" were not truly peltasts in the traditional sense, but lightly-armored hoplites carrying the pelte shield in conjunction with longer spears--a combination that has been interpreted as a direct ancestor to the Macedonian phalanx.
Alexander the Great employed peltasts drawn from the Thracian tribes to the north of Macedonia, particularly the Agrianoi.
Peltasts couldn't afford the panoply of a hoplite and were recruited from the poorer strata of society. Usually they were mercenaries. They made up the largest part of the forces of the Aetolian League and Achaean League.
Peltasts were reputedly Thracian in origin. On vases and other images they are generally depicted with the costume of Thrace. However, many of them were probably poorer soldiers from other parts of Greece.
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