Psiloi

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The Macedonian attack formation with the Psiloi on the front line

The Psiloi (Greek: ψιλοί) were very lightly armed units in the Greek army.

description

This unit was the dregs of the Greek army. They were lightly armed skirmishers who were very mobile but carried no protective weapons. They were similar to the peltasts , but they had no shields. There were the following subgroups of the Psiloi:

On the battlefield, they were used as shock troops or for diversionary maneuvers. They marched in no closed formation.

The Psiloi were quite successful against clumsy hoplites, such as B. in the battle of Sphakteria , in which Psiloi and Peltasts won against Spartan hoplites .

history

The Psiloi have existed in all of Greek military history. Often inexperienced fighters were turned into psiloi in emergency situations because there was no money for expensive equipment. Even for men who had to do military service but had no money for expensive equipment, the psiloi were the only military option. Sometimes it was forced recruits who had to take this dangerous and unprotected post on the battlefield.

In the Byzantine Empire Psiloi were also used. There it was more of a collective term for skirmishers in general. In Byzantium the Psiloi marched in straight lines and were already protected at the beginning of the battle behind the heavy infantry, from where they then hurled their projectiles at the enemy.

literature