#PRTO_Peltast
^
^
^[Peltasts] are the medium "auxiliary" foot soldiers of the ancient Hellenistic nations. They move quickly and will [withdraw] from combat if they are losing (unless fighting another fast unit).
#DESC_PRTO_Peltast
^
^
^Peltasts were first used by the ancient Thracians about 800 BC. Armed with bundles of javelins carried behind their shields, they proved their worth in 390 BC by defeating an elite 700 man Spartan mora by simply outrunning the slower hoplites while continuing to pelt them with showers of javelins. Later peltasts were equipped with bronze Thracian type helmets and the larger oval thureos type shields (adopted from the celtic Galatians in 280 BC), and were a part of every Greek and Macedonian army in the  hellenistic world, usually as mercenaries. So common were they that by the 3rd and 2nd centries BC the word "mercenary" had almost become a synonym for "peltast". Used as general purpose medium infantry, they were much better equipped at fighting hand-to-hand than light infantry armed with slings or bows, but were also fast enough keep out of range of the heavy infantry. They could take on the tasks that these other specialised troops could not handle, such as fighting in difficult wooded terrain, 
ambushing enemy columns, chasing down skirmishers, flank marches, and so on. Some ancient nations like the Spanish Iberians, the Italian Samnites, the Greek Aetolian League, the Jewish Maccabees, the Illyrians, and of course the Thracians, fielded whole armies of troops fighting in the peltast style, although they called them by different names. The main weakness of peltasts was that they could not stand up to a mounted charge, but this was not too much of a problem as most of these nations lived in 
mountainous regions where cavalry found it difficult to opperate. Their use declined following the expansion and conquests of republican Rome, who did not use peltasts. But by the time of imperial Rome in the 1st centaury AD, the Romans themselves realised the need for fast troops that were capable of performing tasks that the slow heavy Legionary was not suited for, so they created the famous Roman Auxiliaries, armed with javelins, swords, helmets and shields, which eventually made up half of all the 
soldiers in the empire.  
         

   