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Short description

Sicel Peltophoroi are a useful complement to any army, whether on their native Sicily or beyond.

Description

Sicel Peltophoroi are heavy peltasts drawn from the ranks of the Sicels, the native inhabitants of the island of Sicily. Their principal weapon is a bundle of javelins, but they also carry a spear for close combat. Equipped with the round pelte-shields that gave them their name for defence, these skirmishers are otherwise unarmoured. Their shields display various characteristic motifs found on Sicelian coins from this period, such as galloping horses, stags, dolphins, or an ‘A’ within a laurel wreath. These Peltophoroi wear classic woollen or linen tunics of the chiton (ultimately derived from a Semitic word for flax) and exomis (literally: ‘outside’ - ‘shoulder’) types; both of which afford the rapid movements required of flexible light infantry. Sicel Peltophoroi are a useful complement to any army, whether on their native Sicily or beyond.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Sicel or Sikeloi are believed to have migrated to the island named after them in the course of the second millennium BC. Dionysios of Halikarnassos believed them to have been the original inhabitants of the place where the city of Rome would later be founded (Roman Antiquities, 2.1.1). According to Theophrastes, Andron, the flute-player of the Sicilian city Katane, was the first to add rhythmical motions of the body to the playing of the flute; hence, "to do the Sicel" meant "to dance" among the ancients (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 1.22C). During the first half of the fifth century BC, the Sicel people had united under Ducetius in order to try to establish their own, independent state, but at the Battle of Nomai (450 BC) their army was crushed by Greeks from poleis such as Akragas and Syracuse. Ironically, the most enduring effect of the Sicel movement was their definitive Hellenization, as typified by the Sicel language disappearing from the written record (Cambridge Ancient History V (1992), pp. 161-165). Situated on the frontier between Italic, Punic, and Greek influences, Sicily saw the early adoption of mixed, more versatile army compositions that relied on large numbers of horsemen and missile infantry, in contrast to Greece proper (Wrightson, Greek and Near Eastern Warfare (2012), pp. 179-181). These peltophoroi, as depicted in RIS, are a perfect example of this fighting style.

Polybios relates how during the First Punic War, the Syracusan tyrant Hiero II (r. 275-215 BC) – who had first chosen the side of the Carthaginians – in 263 BC concluded a treaty with Rome (Polyb. 1.16). Henceforth, he served as their faithful ally. It is in this context that we encounter the Sicel Peltophoroi in the ancient sources. After their disastrous defeat against Hannibal in the Battle of the Trebia (218 BC) in Northern Italy, the Romans quickly needed to reinforce positions in the route of the enemy’s advance, as well as strengthen other garrisons in strategic positions such as Tarentum. For this purpose, they applied for help to Hiero, who sent five hundred Cretans and a thousand peltophoroi (Polyb. 3.75). Griffith (Mercenaries (1935), pp. 205-6) argues that Polybios’ use of this uncommon term for ‘peltast’ indicates that he might not have considered these soldiers to be Greeks, but barbarians. As a prosperous and popular ruler, Hiero is known to have largely relied on mercenaries. It is unlikely that Syracusan citizens would have been dispatched on a support mission for his Roman ally far beyond the borders of their own city. Altogether, this led RIS to represent these peltophoroi as Sicilian natives.

This Sicel element is especially present on the selected shield designs, which have been based off contemporary Sicel coin findings. From the 5th century BC onwards, the Hellenization of the Sicilian natives had led them to adopt Greek style coinage, the ‘litra’ being their favoured denomination. Coins from Tauromenion, for instance, depict galloping horses and the letter ‘A’ surrounded by a laurel wreath, while other common symbols were the stag or dolphin (Money Museum, lemma ‘Tauromenium, Litra’, c. 360 BC).