The Agrianians (Ancient Greek: Ἀγρίανες,[1] Agrianes) a Paeonian[2]-Thracian tribe, who chiefly inhabited the area of present-day Northeastern statistical region of Republic Of Macedonia and Pčinja District[3][4][5] of southern Serbia, north of the Thracian Maedi tribe, who were situated in what is now the Greek region of Macedonia and Western Thrace. In the times of Philip II, the territory of the Agrianes was administered by Pella.[6]). They were crack javelin throwers and an elite unit of Alexander the Great's light infantry, who fought under the command of General Attalus.
They fought light, carried a bundle of javelins into battle and wore no armor or helmets, perhaps not even shields.[7] Alexander made heavy use of them and every time he dispatched a flying column, the Agrianians were always included. They were expert fighters in mountainous terrains where the phalanx was impracticable and mobile enough to use when speed was essential. Being an elite unit of the light infantry, they often formatted with the hypaspists battalion and the companion cavalry at the right wing of the army.
They are first mentioned regarding the Megabazos' campaign in 511 BC.[8] In 429 BC they were subject to the Odrysian kingdom[9] and later, as early as 352 BC, they became allies of Philip of Macedonia .[10]
Contents |
At the Battle of Gaugamela their numerical strength was 1000. They fought under king Langarus with the Macedonians against the Triballians in 335 BC[11] and succeeded in protecting the lands of Alexander and were thus rewarded with the right to govern themselves, a move that led to a long-lasting and most reliable alliance. During the time of the Seleucid Empire, a crack unit of Antiochus' Agrianes was brigaded together with Persians at Raphia. Contingents from the Agrianes and the Penestae, numbering 800 and 2,000 men respectively, were a part of the garrison of Cassandreia at the time of the Third Macedonian War.[12]
The ethnonym is of Indo-European origin (from *agro- "field" (cf. Lat. ager, Gk. ἀγρός agros, Eng. acre. Nowadays Agrianes are considered extinct, as the last members of the tribe were assimilated mostly by the Slavic populations which settled in the region.[8]
|
||||||||||||||
