The Seleucid Empire's vast geographic spread made it the heir to a wide variety of cavalry traditions, with the fighting style of each region being incorporated into an army of Macedonian origin: units like armored cataphracts and horse archers from the steppes, scythed chariots from the Near East, and even war elephants acquired from distant India. Scholars have long viewed the cavalry of the Seleucids (and by extension other Hellenistic powers) as being ineffectual, with the use of such "exotic" troop types limited to being a passing fad. Dr. Silvannen Gerrard joins our show to argue that the Seleucid military was in fact quite capable and adaptive, and that the often-downplayed role of unorthodox troops like elephants betrays a powerful and effective tool for warfare.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2021/07/18/interview-on-the-cavalry-of-the-seleucid-empire-w-dr-silvannen-gerrard/)

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