Peltast the late 11th and 12th centuries. Although the peltasts of Antiquity were light skirmish infantry armed with javelins, it is not safe to assume that the troops given this name in the Byzantine period were identical in function. Byzantine peltasts were sometimes described as “assault troops”. Byzantine peltasts appear to have been relatively lightly equipped soldiers capable of great battlefield mobility, who could skirmish but who were equally capable of close combat. Their arms may have included a shorter version of the "kontarion" spear employed by contemporary Byzantine heavy infantry. Peltast A peltast (Ancient Greek: πελταστής "peltastes") was a type
Iphicrates sentenced to pay a heavy fine. Afterwards, he remained at Athens until his death in about 353 BC (although according to some he retired to Thrace). Iphicrates Iphicrates () (c. 418 BC – c. 353 BC) was an Athenian general, the son of a shoemaker of the deme of Rhamnous, who flourished in the earlier half of the 4th century BC. He is credited with important infantry reforms that revolutionized ancient Greek warfare by regularizing light-armed peltasts. He was married to the daughter of the Thracian King Cotys and had a son with her. His son was named Menestheus, after