Ancient Greek military personal equipment event of a broken spear, or if close melee combat was necessary. Hoplites mounted on horseback likely used a heavier, curved sword known as the "kopis", meaning "chopper" in the Greek language. Hand-to-hand, light support troops such as the "psiloi" were often armed with ranged weapons. Popular ranged weapons were the bow ("toxa"), javelin ("akontia") and sling ("sfendonai"). While the bow was a relatively uncommon weapon (the wooden stave bow used had a limited range), some troops treated their arrows by thrusting them into rotting corpses, thus creating a crude form of biological weapon. Peltast troops commonly used javelins, and
Battle of Himera (409 BC) Gauls also provided cavalry, which relied on the all-out charge. Carthage at this time did not use elephants, but Libyans provided the bulk of the heavy, four horse war chariots for Carthage, which was not present at Himera in 409. Carthaginian officer corps held overall command of the army, although many units may have fought under their chieftains. The mainstay of the Greek army was the hoplite, drawn mainly from the citizens and mercenaries. Sicels and other native Sicilians also served in the army as hoplites and also supplied peltasts, which is a unit where the poorer citizens also served.