05-05-2011, 05:30 AM
Very interesting! Having read your earlier comment, I searched the net a bit for some record wheelchair throws and dug up a few (made later than the article above) that reached into the mid and even upper 30m range. Even so, it sure looks like you cut the distance down by two-thirds or more when legs aren't in the equation. I think that applying this to cavalry suggests why it was so important for ancient horsemen to have hamippoi or some other type of screening light infantry along. In the case of 'shock' cavalry like the Macedonian Companions, the requirement would seem to be greater still. Alexander's Agrianian peltasts or others of their ilk thus must have been a very vital part of the arms mix in any action where he anticipated that his cavalry would have to face missle-armed footmen.
It\'s only by appreciating accurate accounts of real combat past and present that we can begin to approach the Greek hoplite\'s hard-won awareness of war\'s potential merits and ultimate limitations.
- Fred Eugene Ray (aka "Old Husker")
- Fred Eugene Ray (aka "Old Husker")
