Recreating a Greek Cavalryman

[hoplite14gr]

Nice impression John!

Kind regards

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yeah, it was a great weekend. I will remember it for a long time!

[John Conyard]

With a nod to Panaitios, I've spent a happy day in freezing north Yorkshire as a cavalryman.
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I am carrying a kamax and a single javelin. The former has a shaft that tapers and it is a beautifully balanced weapon.
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I should have worn a Thracian cloak, but kept to my old faithful cloak/comfort blanket to induce authentic frostbite. The felt petasos kept the wind and rain off, although it did lose some of it's shape. As did I.
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[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Looks good, if a bit cold!!

[Paullus Scipio]

An excellent impression, John.......it's unfortunate that the weather doesn't give an equally good impression of a southern Greek winter !!
The bare arms are particularly brave! Still, in one of the coldest winters in London ever, with deep snow everywhere, and when most people were muffled in woolly hats, scarves and overcoats I recall one stout Northern lad (from Yorkshire) continued walking to work in his 'usual outfit' of jeans and T-shirt !!! They breed 'em tough "oop north" ! I'm sure you too coped...... D

One minor, somewhat pedantic point. I agree that Panaitios is only carrying one throwing weapon, alongside his 'kamax', but I think it is really a little large to be called a javelin ( normally 3-5 ft long) and this single weapon, accurately recreated by you, is more in the 'hunting spear/longche' class of dual-purpose weapon - these were 5-7 ft long........

[hoplite14gr]

John in the 3rd you are as if you jumped out from an Athens Museum exibit!!!!!
Congratulations!

[M. Demetrius]

Welsh cobs crossed with thoroughbreds

Thoroughbred mare?

[John Conyard]

Thank you gentlemen,

People are certainly tough up here in Yorkshire. But I count myself lucky to be Cornish. An old teacher told me never to introduce myself to a stranger as Cornish since if they were also Cornish they would let me know, and if they were not Cornish they would only be embarrassed at their shortcomings.

I think the weapons, clothing and the petasos really come together well.

Paul is right that the javelin/lonche is a little long and longer than that of Panaitos. I suspect I am over compensating for something in my old age. :oops: I am used to small Roman veruta which I carry in a quiver on the horse, and Greek javelins seem to be much longer. I called it a javelin without thinking since in this weapon combination it is the one I throw, while retaining the kamax. It travels nicely and would stop a small elephant.

Hal was technically a rig, in that his gelding did not work. He has the temperament of a stallion, always fighting and very proud. Most of our horses are geldings, with the occassional mare thrown in, which lead to all sorts of fun and games last year. At shows I fence Hal off with a chum for company in one paddock, and leave the other horses together in a another.

I am currently very fond of a hunting cob - a gelding and a cross between an Irish cob and a Welsh Mountain pony. At 14.3 Cookie seems tall, well built and very willing.

[John Conyard]

Byron wrote:

Well, I am a very small way down this route. But i am wondering about perhaps the later successor cavalry?
Heavier armour and saddles ?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thanks for pasting that up here John. I'm a little confused about the purpose of the groups and a discussion thread...

Anyway, the question is as stated. If anyone has information on the later Successor
Cavalry, meaning the period after Alexander and the period of collapse of the Empire he cut out, into the Successor Kingdoms, not the later period of this period, I would be grateful of any pointers and information on their equipment.
I have an excellent Boeotian Helmet sourced through JConyard, but as I have been investing in reading material more relating to Roman equipment, I am a bit uncertain if this would be suitable for kit of this period.

[John Conyard]

Hi Byron, there are many many types of Hellenistic cavalry which makes replying tricky.
Asclepiodotus (1.3) using Poseidonius gives some pointers. But Aelian (2. 11-13) and Arrian (4. 1-6) are more useful.
Both give us cataphracts and unarmoured cavalry (aphraktoi). The unarmoured cavalry are further divided into a sort of lancer (doratophoroi, sarisophorai, kontophoroi, xystophoroi or lochophoroi depending on the weapon) and missile cavalry (akrobolistai).
The cavalry with shorter spears could also carry shields (thureoi) and were called thureophoroi.
Akrobolistai could use horse archery, throw javelins as “Tarentines” or hippakontista in Aelian (3.13). Some Tarentines could throw javelins and encage in combat.
The Seleucid cavalry at the Daphnae parade in around 166 is described in Polybius (30.25.3-11) and that is worth a look.
I suspect the best approach would be to find a statue or some suitable iconography to reconstruct.
Rather than using a saddle I suggest you find a nice thick sheepskin, throw a saddle cloth over it and secure it with a girth which goes right around the horse. I use a padded vaquero girth. This should provide enough to give you some illusion of, while bracing yourself against the girth. I fear thracian helmets of various types would perhaps be more common, but the boeotian will be fine. A big floppy hat like a petasos can be good too. Depending on what you are portraying a bronze cuirass would be good, as would soft clothing. Cavalry boots are very useful.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thanks you john. Some interesting leads!

[John Conyard]

I wanted to post something on this thread to stop it dying out. Kit gets better all the time, and I wanted to get some new shots of "Greek" riding yesterday. But really all the time was spent just schooling the horse.

If the country can still afford it there will be an Olympics in the UK in 2012, and I have even had an enquiry about putting together a Greek cavalry show. I'm very pleased the Olympics are useful for somethingmile:

[John Conyard]

I suspect Cookie would make for a comfortable mount, stronger and rounder than Hal.

I even had a go at looking like a Hellenistic period Skythian with shield. Maybe not a good look!

[John Conyard]

I have been riding as a Roman all summer, but managed to do a Greek session last week. I do not want this topic to die.

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