Tarentine Cavalry

[Johnny Shumate]

Paul and JP got me interested in doing an illustration of a Tarentine cavalryman.

They were armed with javelins, shield(small round shield? thureos?) and no armor.

What else do we know..?

Johnny

[PMBardunias]

Johnny, here is the best info on them you will find:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/luke/ueda-sarson/Tarantines.html

note the coins he shows.

Two robust dual-purpose javelin-spears and a full hoplite Aspis. Boetian or attic-derived helmet. The armor is open for debate.

Tarantine Dolphin shield blazon is a must You could do a scene of a group of them in the process of dismouning, or remounting in the face of the enemy to express their dragoon-like role.

I have a Montvert publication by Sekunda that mentions them as well. Feel free to contact me with questions.

[MeinPanzer]

It depends if you want to depict an actual Tarantine cavalryman from Taranto or a later Tarantıne-type cavalryman. The original Tarantine cavalrymen were just a distinctive kind of cavalryman from Taranto, but later on "Tarantine" became a type of cavalryman, being equipped with javelins and a shield and fighting in a particular way, which could be recruıted from anywhere. For the original Tarantines, you have good sources in the coins shown in the article that PMBardunias linked to. If you can find a picture of it, there was also a 4th C. BC stele found ın Taranto whıch shows very clearly the classıc Tarantine cavalryman's equıpment.

As for the later kind, your guess is about as good as anyone's. Sekunda ın his Ptolemaic Montvert title has reconstructed a later Ptolemaıc Tarantıne after the 2nd C. BC painted stele of Eunostides of Perrhaibia found at Sidon. This reconstruction ıs based on the reasoning that Perrhaibians, beıng closely assocıated wıth Thessalıans, who were renowned for beıng masterful cavalrymen, would have naturally fought as cavalrymen, even though Eunostıdes ıs shown on foot on the stele. There are a few ınteresting figures of lıght cavalrymen found at Seleucıa on the Tıgris, IIRC, whıch show men wearıng tradıtıonal "Orıental" clothıng (trousers, long-sleeved tunıcs, peaked caps) and carryıng small Argıve shıelds whıch would make for an ınterestıng new reconstruction of a Tarantıne, as well.

[Johnny Shumate]

I don't believe they used a full size aspis. The coins show a smaller version of one.

Johnny

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Johny,I think the coins show two types of shields,one of which is a hoplite one! A make clear though that I know nothing of Tarantine cavalry.

[hoplite14gr]

Some comments:

Most people believe that the "Tarentine" cavalry were the first cavalry to use shields but that is a very liberal interpretation of ancient art.
Other cavalry types used shileds from the Geometric era.

The safe bet is the use of javelins for this type of cavalry but there is no way to rule out the lance.

Johhny it depends a lot on the aim of an illustration. If you plan to shoe many figures you can afford to show more variety of equipment.

Kind regards

[PMBardunias]

I don't believe they used a full size aspis. The coins show a smaller version of one.

Luke addresses that in the article and describes them as artiscially reduced to show the figure- evidently the same thing was done for infantry who surely did not carry little shields. Too small and they could not fulfil their role as dismounted infantry. Some coins definitely show a full sized aspis. Perhaps they alter over time.

I think Duncan posts on here. I have never read his take on them, but he'd be the one to ask.

[philsidnell]

What is the evidence for their role as 'dragoons' or mounted infantry?

thanks

Phil Sidnell

[PMBardunias]

What is the evidence for their role as 'dragoons' or mounted infantry?

I'm not an expert on this troop type and will quickly get into trouble if I try to be. I'd refer you to the article on Luke's site, for I will only be repeating his arguement.

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/luke/ueda-sarson/Tarantines.html

[philsidnell]

Yeah, thanks, I read that, but he says that


A: There is no literary evidence that mentions them dismounting.

B: All the coins that show actually Tarentine (ie from Tarentum) cavalry in the act of dismounting are probably depicting sporting events.

C: They were, at least as used by the Seleucids, a response to Parthian horse-archers (against which dismounted skirmishing with javelins would be impotent)

If anyone has any actual evidence in favour of them fighting dismounted I'd be really interested to hear it. I can't think of any strong evidence for cavalry from the Hellenistic or Roman periods that habitually fought dismounted, except possibly Alexander's experiment with the dimachi (or whatever they were called).

thanks

Phil Sidnell


p.s Excuse the plug but the paperback edition of my book [i]Warhorse:Cavalry in Ancient Warfare[\\i] is due to be published on October 20th in the UK, 2 months later in the US.

[PMBardunias]

I see the problem. Proving that they were designed to do this would be difficult when we think of the fact that other types of cavalry could dismount to fight in the right (wrong!) circumstances. The Romans at Cannae or the apocryphal Spartans who take up shields from Sicyon are a couple I can think of. I'm also reminded of the mercenary cavalry sent by Syracuse to help the Spartans who did not fight on foot, but kept dismounting just out of range if I recall- so the two need not be linked.