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The Sciritae or Skiritai (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: Skiritai) were a people subject to Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
, whose status is comparable to that of the Perioeci. They lived in Skiritis, a mountainous region located in northern Laconia
Laconia

Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. Laconia has the legal status of a Prefectures of Greece, with Sparti its administrative capital....
 on the border with Arcadia
Arcadia

Arcadia, Arkad?a , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas....
, between the Oenus
Oenus (river)

Oenus , also called Kelef?na, the modern Oino?s, rises in the watershed of Mt. Parnon, and, after flowing in a general southwesterly direction, falls into the Eurotas, at the distance of little more than a mile from Sparta....
 and the Eurotas
Eurotas River

The Eurotas or Evrotas is a river in the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The river rises in the Taygetos mountains and flows for 82 km....
 rivers.

According to Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus of Byzantium

Stephanus of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus was the author of an important Gazetteer entitled Ethnica . Of the dictionary itself only meagre fragments survive, but we possess an epitome compiled by one Hermolaus....
 and Hesychius of Alexandria
Hesychius of Alexandria

Hesychius of Alexandria , a grammarian who flourished probably in the 5th century CE, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived ....
, the Sciritae were of Arcadian origin. Their way of life was essentially rural: they mostly lived in villages, of which the biggest were Oion and Caryai.






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The Sciritae or Skiritai (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: Skiritai) were a people subject to Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
, whose status is comparable to that of the Perioeci. They lived in Skiritis, a mountainous region located in northern Laconia
Laconia

Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. Laconia has the legal status of a Prefectures of Greece, with Sparti its administrative capital....
 on the border with Arcadia
Arcadia

Arcadia, Arkad?a , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas....
, between the Oenus
Oenus (river)

Oenus , also called Kelef?na, the modern Oino?s, rises in the watershed of Mt. Parnon, and, after flowing in a general southwesterly direction, falls into the Eurotas, at the distance of little more than a mile from Sparta....
 and the Eurotas
Eurotas River

The Eurotas or Evrotas is a river in the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The river rises in the Taygetos mountains and flows for 82 km....
 rivers.

According to Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus of Byzantium

Stephanus of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus was the author of an important Gazetteer entitled Ethnica . Of the dictionary itself only meagre fragments survive, but we possess an epitome compiled by one Hermolaus....
 and Hesychius of Alexandria
Hesychius of Alexandria

Hesychius of Alexandria , a grammarian who flourished probably in the 5th century CE, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived ....
, the Sciritae were of Arcadian origin. Their way of life was essentially rural: they mostly lived in villages, of which the biggest were Oion and Caryai. Their territory was inhospitable, but was of strategic importance for Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
 since it controlled the road to Tegea
Tegea

Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it is also a municipality in modern Arcadia, Greece, with its seat in the village Stadio.Ancient Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece, containing the Temple of Athena Alea....
, which explains why it rapidly fell in Spartan hands. Their status was to that of the Perioeci, but Xenophon
Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
 keeps them distinguished.

In war the Sciritae formed an elite corps of light infantry
Light infantry

Traditionally light infantry were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, Harassment and delaying the enemy advance....
, a lochos (battalion
Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 500-1500 men usually consisting of between two and seven company and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel....
) of about 600 men, which were used as a complement to the civic army
Spartan Army

The Spartan Army was the military force of Sparta, one of the leading city-states of ancient Greece. The army stood at the centre of the Spartan state, whose citizens' primary obligation was to be good soldiers....
. According to Thucydides
Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greeks history and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C....
 (), they fought on the extreme-left wing in the battle-line, the most threatening position for the hoplite
Hoplite

The word hoplite derives from hoplon , meaning an item of armour or equipment, thus 'hoplite' may approximate to 'armoured man'. Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of the Ancient Greece City-states....
 phalanx
Phalanx formation

The phalanx is a rectangular mass military tactical formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pike , or similar weapons....
: "In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in a Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone". At night, they were placed as sentinels ahead of the army (Xenophon
Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
, Constitution of the Spartans, xii. 3) and acted as scouts to open the way for the king, whom they only could precede.

In the Cyropaedia
Cyropaedia (Xenophon)

The Cyropaedia is a "partly fictional biography" of Cyrus the Great, written in the early 4th century BCE by the Athens gentleman-soldier Xenophon....
 (IV, 2), Xenophon compares them to the Hyrcania
Hyrcania

Hyrcania was the name of a satrapy located in the territories of present day Golestan Province, Mazandaran, Gilan and part of Turkmenistan, lands south of the Caspian Sea....
n cavalry, used by the Assyrians as rear-guard.

See also

  • Perioeci
  • Neodamodes
    Neodamodes

    The Neodamodes were Helots freed after passing a time of service as hoplites in the Spartan Army.The date of their first apparition is uncertain....
  • Trophimoi
    Trophimoi

    The Trophimoi were children of non-Spartiatae - Perioeci or foreigners - who underwent Agoge.The trophimoi are temporarily adopted by a Spartan oikos....
  • Ekdromoi
    Ekdromoi

    The Ekdromos was the name of the ancient Greek light hoplites. Their name means 'out-runners', because they were lightly armoured , fast infantry against the northern barbarians ....


External links

  • by Frank Santini Russell (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999)