Mercenary Trallian Infantry

Description

The Trallians are the new royal guard of the Macedonian kings. They were recruited from a Thracian tribe renowned for its fierceness in battle, and given the best equipment available in Pella. Their metal cuirasses and Linothorakes are as extravagantly coloured as their Thureos shields and crested helmets, a testament to the heaps of gold the Antigonid kings have invested in this unit. They fight with the national weapon of Thrace, the two handed Rhomphaia, a powerful sword that can cut through bones of men and horses alike. When used by a prudent commander, these Trallians can tear any enemy army to shreds.

Historical background

Before the Second Roman-Macedonian War (200-197 BC) Philip V, King of Macedon, recruited large numbers of mercenaries to strengthen his army. Among them were many Thracians, who often fought in exchange for Macedonian gold. A favourite group of the king were the 400 men recruited from the tribe of the Trallians, who fought as heavy infantry. They were permanently employed and trained for the upcoming war, where they would serve as the king’s personal battle guard. Given the best equipment available, they combined the state of the armour of the Antigonid kingdom with the ferocity of the Thracian tribes. At the battle of Kynoskephalai in 197 BC, they fought by side by side with Philip, eventually escorting him from the battlefield (Polyb. XVIII, 26, 8). They were retained after the war and might be identified with the Thracian force that committed the massacre at Maroneia in 185 BC (Polyb. XXII, 13, 6).

The Trallians were probably a Thracian people (Hesych. s.v. Τραλλεῖς) that dwelled around the cities Begis and Buloros, though Stephanos of Byzantion claims they were of Illyrian origin (Steph. Byz. s.v. Βῆγις; Βόλουρος; Τραλλία). They are first mentioned as mercenaries in the army of Alexander the Great (Diod. XVII, 65, 1) and thus may have been tied to the Kingdom of Macedon in a similar way as the Agrianes. Polybios and Livy mention them several times as an elite unit of the Antigonid army (Polyb. XVIII, 26, 8; Liv. XXVII, 32, 4; XXXI, 35, 1; XXXVIII, 21, 2) between 208 BC and 185 BC. The mercenaries thus seem to have become a permanent part of the army. The ancient sources do not tell us anything about their equipment, but since they were elevated to the position of a royal guard, it is very likely they would have been heavily armoured. Yet, Griffith once (Mercenaries of the Hellenistic world, 1933) argued that the Thracians settled in Macedon, Egypt and Mesopotamia by Hellenistic kings retained their national weapon, the Rhomphaia, and the same is assumed in our mod.

Trallians are also mentioned in an inscription from an Attalid garrison at Ilion dated to 260 BC (I. Ilion 64), which is why Pergamon gets access to this unit as well. The Trallians in their service may either have been previously employed by the Antigonids, or were armed by the Attalids themselves, who commanded only a small army, but vast financial resources. Finally, the Kingdom of Bithynia, Pergamon’s rival in North-western Asia Minor, likely also made use of the Trallians. Being of Thracian stock themselves, the Bithynians had good connections to European Thrace, and often called upon their tribal brethren to bolster their ranks (Griffith, Mercenaries (1933), p. 185; Matthews, Greek Onomastics (2007), p. 129).