Cappadocian Javelinmen

Description

These javelinmen have been drafted from the peasantry of the highland villages and rural estates to defend Cappadocia. Wearing long-sleeved Cappadocian tunics, thick trousers, woven native Cappadocian or Phrygian hats, and broad belts, they are well prepared to face the cold winters in the highlands and mountains of eastern Anatolia. Their equipment is light and practical: a bundle of throwing javelins serves as their primary weapon, supported by a small shield for protection against enemy missiles and a sidearm dagger, such as the akinakes, which was popular all throughout the (former) Persian Empire. Lacking heavy armour, their speed allows these men to pelt slow enemy foot formations and ambush invaders in the narrow Cappadocian mountain passes. However, their lack of armour leaves them vulnerable; if caught out of position by enemy cavalry or melee infantry, they will quickly rout.

Historical background

The tradition of Anatolian light infantry is well documented from the Achaemenid era through the Hellenistic period. As Herodotus recorded during Xerxes’ invasion of Greece, Syrians, referred to by the Persians as "Cappadocians", went into battle equipped with small shields, javelins, short spears, daggers, and woven helmets (Herodotus, 7.72.1). This regional light infantry model persisted under Persian satrapal rule, when local skirmishers were maintained to guard estate fortresses and to watch over critical mountain passes across the realm (Weiskopf, "CAPPADOCIA", in: Encyclopaedia Iranica IV [1990]).

Following the fall of the Achaemenid Empire and the death of Alexander the Great, Macedonian generals such as Eumenes of Kardia and subsequent Seleucid monarchs reorganised the Cappadocian interior into fortified rural villages (kōmai) rather than large coastal poleis (Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor (1995), pp. 43-44). Integrating native Anatolians with Iranian and Greek settlers, these rural communities provided Cappadocian rulers with a more militarised peasantry.

Throughout the 3rd to 1st centuries BC under the Ariarathid dynasty, javelin-armed skirmishers remained an essential component of Cappadocian armies. They served in royal campaigns as allies of the Seleucids, such as at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, and later defended the kingdom's strongholds during the Mithridatic Wars against Pontos and Rome (Livy, 37.40; Polybius, 23.9). During these wars, both the Cappadocian king, Ariarathes, and the Pontic garrisons pressed the local peasantry into service to repair fortresses and to bolster the numbers of their armies. Appian tells us that Lucius Lucullus, “who had been chosen consul and general for this war”, was in Cyzicus when he “learned from deserters that the king's army contained about 300,000 men” (Appian, Mithridatic Wars 15; Plutarch, Sulla 11.4).

Stats

Weapons

Defence

Condition and terrain

In battle: Very good stamina

Who can recruit it

A core roster unit for one faction, which can raise it anywhere it holds the right building:

Cappadocia

Any faction holding one of the provinces below can field it.

Areas of recruitment