Editing Peltast (section)

{{Short description|Type of Thracian light infantry}}
{{Redirect|Pelta|the suffix "-pelta"|List of commonly used taxonomic affixes|Peltæ|Peltae}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Italic title}}
[[Image:Agrianian3.jpg|thumb|[[Agrianes|Agrianian]] ''peltas''. This ''peltast'' holds three javelins, one in his throwing hand and two in his ''pelte'' (shield) hand as additional ammunition.]]
A '''''peltast''''' ({{langx|grc|[[wikt:πελταστής|πελταστής]]}}, {{Transliteration|grc|peltastēs}}) was a type of [[light infantry]] originating in [[Thracians|Thrace]] and [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonia]] and named after the kind of shield he carried.<ref name=":0">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436729 Williams, Mary Frances. "Philopoemen's special forces: Peltasts and a new kind of greek light-armed warfare (Livy 35.27)]." ''Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte'' H. 3 (2004): 257-277.</ref> [[Thucydides]] mentions the Thracian peltasts, while [[Xenophon]] in the [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]] distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0092:section=350a&highlight James A. Towle, Commentary on Plato: Protagoras James A. Towle, Ed.]</ref>

The peltast often served as a [[skirmisher]] in [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] armies. In the [[Middle Ages]], the same term was used for a type of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] infantryman.