the ancient Greek Peltast. The Peltast was
a type of light infantry originating
Thrace who often served as skirmishers in
the Hellenistic armies a Peltast is carried
a crescent-shaped wicker shield called a
Pelte as their main protection the
Pelte was rimless and covering goats
or sheep skin this shield could be
carried to a central strap and a hand
grip near the rim with just a central
hand grip it may also have had a
carrying strap as Thracian Peltasts slung
their shields on their backs when
invading the enemy
peltasts were armed with several
javelins as well as a sword which was
used for close quarters combat as the
armour was cheap and cost-effective a
majority of the poorer class citizens of
ancient Greece would fight as Peltasts
eventually peltasts came to use a spear
however it's generally regarded that
these soldiers are not true peltasts
although originating the lands of the
Thracians peltasts gradually became more
important in greek warfare in particular
during the Peloponnesian War peltasts
were usually deployed on the flanks of
the Greek phalanx or to provide a link
with any cavalry or in rough or broken
ground tactics used by peltasts when
fighting hoplites was to throw their
javelins at short range
if the hoplite charge the peltasts would
retreat as they carried considerably
lighter equipment than the hoplites they
were usually able to evade successfully
they were then returned to attack once
the pursuit ended taking advantage of
any disorder created in the hoplites
ranks however the lack of heavy
equipment made them quite vulnerable to
shock capable  cavalry and as a result
the peltasts fought on broken ground
where cavalry was useless and heavy
infantry found it difficult to maintain
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