![]() ![]() Tissaphernes had not fled at the first charge (by the Greek troops), but had instead charged along the river through the Greek peltasts. Xenophon, in the Anabasis, describes peltasts in action against Persian cavalry at the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BCE, where they were serving as part of the mercenary force of Cyrus the Younger. Peltasts gradually became more important in Greek warfare, in particular during the Peloponnesian War. Often, the mythical Amazons (women warriors) are shown with peltast equipment. Some vases have also been found showing hoplites (men wearing Corinthian helmets, greaves and cuirasses, holding hoplite spears) carrying peltes. However, many mercenary peltasts were probably recruited in Greece. They also usually wore patterned tunics, fawnskin boots and long cloaks, called zeiras, decorated with a bright, geometric, pattern. They are generally depicted on vases and in other images as wearing the typical Thracian costume, which includes the distinctive Phrygian cap made of fox-skin and with ear flaps. The style of fighting used by peltasts originated in Thrace, and the first Greek peltasts were recruited from the Greek cities of the Thracian coast. In the Archaic period, the Greek martial tradition had been focused almost exclusively on the heavy infantry, or hoplites. ![]() A peltast with the whole of his panoply (on a red-figure kylix) ![]()
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