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Short description

These men are slingers, armed with a xiphos sword and a large shield. These mobile marines are competent fighters both on land and at sea!

Description

Sinopian Epibatai are the marines of the city of Sinope. Their slings can be devastating. When in close combat, they switch to xiphos swords. For protection, they trust on their large wooden aspis shields covered with bronze, making them durable as both skirmishers and supporting infantry. In addition to their shield, the Epibatai wear bronze helmets with cheekpieces. Some wear the Pilos helmets, with or without wide brims that shade the eyes; others prefer the impressive regional Phrygian helmets. Sinopian Epibatai should open the battle. They should seek out and throw rocks at opposing skirmishers and archers. Due to their large shields, they can run inside the range of unarmoured archers and take them out in a prolonged skirmish. These Epibatai do not wear heavy armour, as this would make them unable to swim if they slip into the sea, allowing them to cross rivers during battle.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In the Hellenic world of the 3rd century BC, fleets were vital to support armies, defend trade routes, and raiding enemy lands. The city of Sinope had a capable fleet in the Euxine (Black Sea) protecting their harbour and goods. Fleets tried to outmanoeuvre and ram the opposing ships while pelting the enemy with stones, arrows and spears, but if that did not work the Epibatai (“Marines”) had to conduct boarding actions. These boarding actions were done with swords (Herzogenrat-Amelung, Naval Hoplites (2017), p. 46). We know that the Chians assigned 40 wealthy citizens as Epibatai to each of their ships during the Ionian Revolt (499-493 BC) (Hdt. 6.15.2) and the Athenians only put 10 Epibatai on their triere during the Peloponnesian War (431-402 BC) (Herzogenrat-Amelung (2017), pp. 47-48). It depended on the winds, type of ships, and the tactics employed how many Epibatai would be seated on the ship. Ten marines per ship was probably the norm (Herzogenrat-Amelung (2017), p. 49). Thucydides quotes the Athenian commander Nikias making such a consideration: “[a] number of archers and darters will go on board, and a multitude that we should not have employed in an action in the open sea, where our science would be crippled by the weight of the vessels; but in the present land-fight that we are forced to make from shipboard all this will be useful” (Thuc. 7.62.2). These ten Epibatai were free men that commanded and controlled the sailors on the loud and unruly sea (Thuc. 2.84; Herzogenrat-Amelung (2017), p. 53).

The Sinopian Epibatai do not wear any armour, as a linothorax a would be their undoing if they would fall into the sea (Ioannidou, Hellenic Marine Forces (2018), p. 10; Herzogenrat-Amelung (2017), p. 47). The armour would start to suck in water and become increasingly heavy, hence it would equally be a death trap, and the same is true for greaves. Hence, the Epibatai have abandoned all other forms of armour protection but for the bronze Phrygian or Pilos helmet and a large Aspis shield. Even on land it is unlikely that the Sinopian Epibatai would have equipped armour, since they had to be provided with extra armour from Rhodes during the Pontic siege of their city in 220 BC (Polyb. IV, 56, 5-8).

The city of Sinope (Σινώπη) was founded in the late 7th century BC by Ionian settlers from Miletos (Strab. 12.3.11). Before this colonisation others had already settled here, as it was a strategic location on the thin neck of a peninsula. The peninsula made for a valuable natural harbour that shielded ships from storms on the Euxine (Black Sea). Sinope is, furthermore, situated at the closest point of Asia Minor to Tauris (Crimea).

No wonder that Sinope became the biggest colony on the Pontic coast. They had one of the largest navies in the Black Sea and controlled fishing and trade together with Byzantion (Polyaen 7.21.2; Xen. Anab. 5.6.1). Sinope itself founded the colonies Armene, Kerasous, Kotyora, and Trapezous along the coast (Diod. 14.31.1). A valuable dark reddish-brown pigment for painting, mined in Cappadocia, was traded through the harbour of Sinope. Hence, it became known as Sinopia (Plin: HN 35.31). Strabo, the Pontic Greek geographer from nearby Amaseia, tells us that the land “furnishes timber of excellent quality for shipbuilding, and is easily conveyed away. The territory of Sinope produces the maple, and the mountain nut tree, from which wood for tables is cut” (Strab. 12.3.12). This wood was also valuable for manufacturing aspis shields.

Epibatai carry these large concave shields. They were held by an armband (porpax) right before the left elbow, while the hand gripped a leather handle (antilabe). This enabled the Epibatai to support the weight (on average 6.2 kg or 13.7 pounds) on both the elbow and the wrist. This mechanism made it possible to use shield and sling at the same time. The shield was rather thin, resulting in a reduced protection against arrows and javelins (Fink, The Battle of Marathon (2014), pp. 31-34). Therefore, some skirmishers would prefer a smaller shield. Epibatai, however, were also expected to fight in melee as light infantry.

Greek slingers used a long sling, and in war the ammunition was ideally lead shot, weighing around 0.7-1.05 ounces (20-30 grammes) but occasionally up to 1.9 ounces (55 grammes). Sling-missiles would usually be carried in the fold of the cloak behind the shield or in special pouches. Bullets were often inscribed with the name of the commander (Echols, ‘The Ancient Slinger’ (1950), pp. 227-228). Xenophon relates how during The March of the Ten Thousand, ‘in the villages, the Greeks found gut in abundance and lead for the use of their slingers’ (Xen. Anab. 3.4.17). Such leaden bullets were almond-shaped, tapering to a dull point at the end, which gave the bullet a whirling motion that increased its penetrating power. This lead shot easily outranged the stone shot of the Persian slingers and even the range of their archers (Xen. Anab. 3.4.18).

Sinope is not recorded as having taken part in naval battles. The historical records focus on their ability to withstand sieges. Despite Iranian and Anatolian political influences, the cults and institutions of Sinope remained Milesian. In the same manner, Sinope was not integrated into the Empire of Alexander the Great. Mithridates II of Pontos tested the formidable defences of Sinope in 220 BC. Polybius writes that the city “is built upon a peninsula jutting out into the sea: it is on the neck of this peninsula, connecting it with Asia, which is not more than two stades wide, that the city is so placed as to entirely close it up from sea to sea; […] and they accordingly determined to strengthen the line of the peninsula, where it was washed by the sea, by putting up wooden defences and erecting palisades round the places accessible from the sea; and at the same time by storing weapons and stationing guards at all points open to attack: for the whole area is not large, but is capable of being easily defended and by a moderate force” (Polyb. IV, 56, 5-8). These steep cliffs and choke points ensured that any timely discovered attacks could be held by a dense phalanx formation accompanied by a rain of stones slung by the Epibatai. The Sinopians, with the help from others such as the Koans, repulsed the siege (SEG 48.1097).

Pharnakes I of Pontos eventually captured the city by surprise in 183 BC, despite Rhodes pleading the Roman senate to help Sinope (Livy XL.2.6, 9, 1). Under Pontic rule Sinope became the capital city of that kingdom (Memn. 26, 3). The Roman Consul Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus conquered and greatly damaged Sinope in 70 BC (Memn. 37, 8). Sinope ultimately lost its dominant position under Roman rule, as it was too remote to remain competitive against the Roman highway system that directed trade to the Ionic coast (Robinson (1906): p. 138).