- published: 05 Mar 2010
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A peltast (Ancient Greek: πελταστής) was a type of light infantry in Ancient Greece who often served as skirmishers.
Peltasts carried a crescent-shaped wicker shield called pelte (Latin: peltarion) as their main protection, hence their name. According to Aristotle the pelte was rimless and covered in goat or sheep skin. Some literary sources imply that the shield could be round but in art it is usually shown as crescent shaped. It also appears in Scythian Art and may have been a common type in Central Europe. The shield could be carried with a central strap and a hand grip near the rim or with just a central hand-grip. It may also have had a carrying strap (or baldric) as Thracian peltasts slung their shields on their backs when evading the enemy. Peltasts' weapons consisted of several javelins, which may have had throwing straps to allow more force to be applied to a throw.
In the Archaic period, the Greek martial tradition had been focused almost exclusively on the heavy infantry or hoplites.