Spartan Skiritai
Light Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
The famous Skiritai are trained to detect the enemy and remain hidden themselves: they may only be lightly equipped, but their strike from the dark is lethal.
Description
The Skiritai were Arcadian Perioikoi from a small strip of land called Skiritis (Diod. XV, 64, 3; Thuk. V, 33, 1). These men are protected by a small Pilos helmet with a felt cover on the inside to soften the blow of a spear or sword. They are wearing a variation of the chiton called an exomis, which leaves the right shoulder free for sword or spear movement. Armed with a Xiphos sword and the short, dagger-like Spartan sword, they are best used in melee. Trained for special missions, fast and mobile, they are a great addition to any Lakedaimonian army.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Since archaic times, the Skiritai enjoyed a privileged status among the Lakedaimonian Perioikoi due to their exceptional skills and valour in war. In fact, Xenophon implies that they formed their own social and political group – in any case they certainly enjoyed more rights than the average Perioikoi (Xen. hell. V, 2, 24; Xen. Lak. pol. XII, 3; XIII, 6; Xen. Kyr. IV, 2, 1). Their honorary position on the extreme left of the Spartan battle line is first attested at the Battle of Mantineia in 418 BC, but may be older than that (possibly it were the Skiritai who attempted the assassination of Xerxes at Thermopylai related by Diod. XI, 10, 1-4- at least this was the interpretation of RS’ historian Keravnos, who wrote the original Spartan descriptions). The contingent of 600 men they supplied for the Lakedaimonian army at Mantineia shows how small their ethnos must have been (Thuk. V, 67, 1; V, 68, 3; V, 71, 2).
The Skiritai usually fulfilled special tasks on campaign. Xenophon reports that they scouted the way for the Spartan forces and guarded the camp at night (Xen. Lak. Pol. XII, 3), while they could be used as a tactical reserve in battle not unlike the Roman Triarii according to Diodoros (Diod. XV, 32, 1). To retain their special status in the society of Lakedaimon, they had to work hard and often sacrificed their lives to save Spartiates from certain death (Xen. Kyr. IV, 2, 1). It thus seems, overall, that they resembled the picked troops (epilektoi) of other Greek poleis, but unlike the Spartiates, they were a militia, not professional soldiers (Konijnendijk, Roel, Classical Greek Tactis 2017, p. 160-162).
In 370/369 BC, after the Spartan disaster at Leuktra the preceding year, the Skiritai joined the Perioikoi in deserting Lakedaimon and joined the community of Megalopolis (Xen. hell. VI, 5, 24 seq.; VI, 4, 21). Kleomenes III (r. 235-222 BC) shortly regained the territory of the Skiritis and it is possible that he recruited the Skiritai once again - RIS is certainly giving you the opportunity. During the 2nd century BC, the area was given back to Sparta once again by an arbitration tribunal (Syll.3 665,31; 35) Thereafter, it remained part of the Spartan chora through Roman times.