--The #Achaemenid Military Machine Part 8: Heavy Cavalry (Early Empire) --

From "The Tactical Development of Achaemenid Cavalry" by Alexander Nefedkin: “The offensive weaponry of these riders consisted of the sword and two palta, often without a bow ... There is no firm evidence for Persian #horsemen using shields in the mid-5th century, as Duncan Head (1992: 37–38) and Nicholas Sekunda (1992: 21) suggest.

--The #Achaemenid Military Machine Part 7: Light Cavalry---

Persian cavalry seemed to have been armed in one of two (or both) ways:

 As horse archers: Armed with a compound bows As Javelin/Spear #Cavalry: Armed with a “Palton” which could be used as a melee weapon or thrown 

Against Central Asian #steppe peoples that were raised in the saddle, Persian light cavalry understandably could not offer much of a match.

--Roman Hoplites and the Impetus to Change--
- 🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅🛡️🦅 Until getting thrashed by the #Gallic Senones at the #Battle of Allia in 387 BC, getting their city pillaged, and then having to endure "Vae Victus", the #Romans stuck with a hellenic-inspired #phalanx formation, complete

---The Battle of Leuctra and the Oblique Formation--- - -

Perhaps the most famous defeat of the Spartans came at #Leuctra to the ascending polis #Thebes. - - Epimanondas, the Theban General, formed up his line in Oblique Order. His elite Sacred Band #hoplites would meet the Spartan Equals head-on. He also deployed his left flank in a #phalanx of 50 ranks (as opposed to the usual 8-16 ranks), and placed the majority of his 1500

--The Pilum & Square Holes----- - -

People love talking about the gladius, but I think the real hero of Republican and early Imperial Roman warfare is the pilum. - - #Romans started using #pila around 400 BC, almost 200 years before they started using the #Gladius Hispaniensis. They might have picked it up from #Etruscans, or it could be a truly #Roman invention. - -