Introduction: What the Hell is a Peltast?

It's 390 B.C. near the ancient city of Corinth and the Spartan king makes a costly mistake. Disdaining the threat of enemy forces inside the city, he marches a brigade of 600 heavily armored warriors around it without the usual escort of archers or cavalry. An Athenian general named Iphicrates looks on from Corinth's walls and sees his chance. He sallies forth with several hundred light troops known as peltasts.

The peltasts are javelin-throwers named for their distinctive crescent-shaped shields made of wicker (pelta). Peltasts came to prominence during the Peloponnesian War and the term was closely associated with Thracian* mercenaries for whom loose-order fighting in rough country was a way of life.

Iphicrates' peltasts rush the Spartan column and hurl their javelins. The Spartan warriors, known as hoplites, turn to attack with their heavy spears but the nimble peltasts stay out of reach. When the Spartans stop the chase to continue on their way, the peltasts rush them again. This back-and-forth goes on and the Spartans grow frustrated. Then, as casualties mount, they panic and flee.

The action was known as the Battle of Lechaeum* and it was a humiliating blow to the Spartans who considered themselves the preeminent warriors of the time. They were routed by a bunch of scrappy low-life barbarians.

So why name a blog, "The Peltast?"

Because all the other names are taken!

No, actually, peltasts spurred my imagination when I first read about them 10-12 years ago. I love walking, hiking and occasionally hunting, and I've learned that traveling light is a good thing. I also like to keep my feet on the ground (both in actuality and philosophically). Reading about these Thracian warriors -- rugged up-country wanderers who foreshadowed partisans and guerrilla fighters of later eras -- struck a chord in me. So it seems like "peltast" is a good metaphor for my general outlook on things.

Others may identify with samurai, or knights, or ninja, or hulking fantasy warriors swinging impossibly heavy axes. But, for me, it's the peltast -- underrated, underestimated, light, maneuverable and deadly.

Of course I wish no one harm. My warrior nature, such as it is, I confine to the world of ideas. I am a peltast of the mind, and this is my web log.