Tureofors

The armament of the Tureophors consisted of a long spear , several darts and a sword (usually a xyphos ).

As a defense we used a bronze or iron Macedonian helmet and a large oval shield - Tureos (a wooden shield with a central handle, covered with leather, in the center of which there was a metal umbon and a long metal strip reinforcing the shield). In most cases, the Tureophors fought without any armor at all, compensating for this with a large shield size, which allowed to reduce equipment costs, thereby expanding the circle of people who could replenish the army, although in some cases light armor was used (usually linotorax ).

There are several versions of how Tureos appeared in Greece. According to one, it was borrowed from the Eastern Celts who settled in the Danube Valley, who penetrated far to the east in 281 BC. e. to Thrace , whom the Greeks called the Galatians . However, the Thracian and Illyrian infantry began to use the Tureos before the Greeks. According to another version, the Greeks adopted the Tureos during the Pyrrhus campaign in Italy from the allies of the Oscans and / or their opponents of the Romans, who had a scutum that also had a umbone.

The Tureophors were an intermediate link between skirmishers and phalanxes , often replacing the Peltast . Due to their mobility, Tureophors could fight like arrows and, if necessary, rebuild into a phalanx ^[1] . This ability made the Tureophores very effective in defending border areas. As a result, these forces, innovative for their time, replaced the Peltast, but, in turn, became obsolete after the success of the Roman system of manipulative system.

In the IV century BC , the main type of mercenary infantry was considered to be the Peltasts, up to the point that they became synonymous with mercenaries . Illustrations of the beginning of the III century BC depict the small round shield of the pelt in action, but by the middle of the 3rd century BC he is replaced by the Tureos, adopted by the Achaean Union and the Boeotians by the 270th year BC. e. Plutarch describes the Achaean citizens, equipped with Tureos, as skirmishers, as Peltasts, but having spears for close combat. However, despite the availability of spears, the Tureophors were not reliable in hand-to-hand combat due to the fact that they were light infantry. Hired Tureophors were recruited not only in Greece, but also in other areas, for example, in Anatolia .

Sword battles with Tureos ( Tureomahiya ) have become part of many Greek sports competitions.

The Achaean Union during the time of Philopemen refused Tureos around 208 - 207 BC. e. in favor of the heavy Macedonian phalanx ^{[1] [2]} , although the citizens of Megalopolis , the Achaean city, adopted the Macedonian style only by 222 BC. e. , after Antigonus III Dawson gave bronze shields to the townspeople to form an army of epilects ( dr. Greek ἐπίλεκτοι , “selected”), known as halkaspids ( dr. Greek Χαλχασπίδες , “bronze shields”).

By the end of the III century BC. e. the Tureophors were no longer the dominant type of troops in small Greek states, giving way to the Macedonian phalanx. A similar type of troops with heavier armor is the thoracites .

• Head, Duncan (1982). Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars. WRG.
• Sabin, Philip & van Wees, Hans & Whitby, Michael (eds.) (2007). "The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Volume 1, Greece, The Hellenistic World and the Rise of Rome." Cambridge University Press