CHAP II.] THE GREEK CAVALRY. 2fl 



have no record in Herodotus of the Persian cavalry- 

 taking part in the battle, although he states that they 

 landed at Marathon, because the ground was favourable 

 to the use of horsemen. Miltiades protected his flank, 

 as already mentioned, by extending his line so as to rest 

 on marshes which at the season of the year at which the 

 battle was fought were impracticable for cavalry, and 

 the hurried and impetuous attack most probably gave 

 the horsemen no time to equip themselves or their 

 chargers, or to form their ranks so as to take part in 

 the action/ 



At Thermopylae no cavalry appear to have been used 

 on the side of the Greeks, but Xerxes had 80,000 horse- 

 men as well as 20,000 Libyans and Arabians who used 

 chariots and camels. Herodotus says that the Greeks 

 resolved to await the invader in Thermopylae, having 

 weighed everything beforehand, and having considered 

 that the barbarians in that position " would neither be 

 able to use their numbers nor their cavalry." 



After the return of Xerxes to Persia, and when the 

 Greeks marched through the Isthmus to attack Mardo- 

 nius, there is no mention made of any cavalry in their 

 army. The Persians, however, not only had large num- 

 bers of their own cavalry, but the Thebans, who were 

 in alliance with them, furnished a force of cavalry which 

 seems to have been very effective, and to have done good 

 service in the skirmishes before the battle of Platsea, as 

 well as in covering the retreat after it. 



It is hard to explain how it happened that the Greeks 

 had no cavalry in their army, while those Greek nations 

 who had joined the Persians and were fighting with 

 them furnished horsemen who evidently were very skil- 

 ful in the management of their horses and weapons. 

 It may have been caused by the extreme confidence that 

 the Greeks had in their heavy armed infantry, and their 

 desire, in an important conflict, that their whole force 

 should be of that type which they considered the most 

 useful. There is another solution more probable still, 

 and the fact of the Greek nations in alliance with 



* Creasj^, Marathon. 



