Subject: gaesata mercenary spearman
Culture: Gallic Celt
Setting: middle La Tène period, southern Europe / Anatolia 4th-1stc BC
Event Photos
* Burton 1884 p269
"According to Diodorus, the Gauls advanced to battle in war-chariots (carpentum, covinus, essedum). They also had cavalry; but during their invasions of Italy they mostly fought on foot. They had various kinds of missiles, javelins, and the Cateia or Caia (boomerang, or throwing-club), slings, and bows and arrows, poisoned as well as unpoisoned. They then rushed to the attack with unhelm'd heads, and their long locks knotted on the head-top. In many fights they stripped themselves, probably for bravado, preserving only the waistcloth and ornaments, torques, leglets, and armlets. They cut off the heads of the fallen foes; slung them to their shields or saddlebows, and kept them at home as trophies, still the practice of the Dark Continent. Their girls and women fought as bravely as the men; especially with the contus or wooden pike, sharpened and fire-hardened. The waggons ranged in the rear formed a highly efficient 'lager.' The large Keltic stature, their terrible war-cries, and their long Swords wielded by dought arms and backed by stout hearts, enabled them more than once to triumph over civilised armies."
Primary Sources
* Duffy 1996 p82
"In the third century BC the notoriously well-dressed Celts sometimes employed bands of gaesatae or spearmen who were known to fight naked for religious reasons. Relatively few in number, they were professional soldiers who fought for whatever ruler wished to retain their services. The sculptures made by the Greeks of Pergamum reflect this practice, the extent of which was exaggerated by the reproduction and distribution of the sculptures, and by both classical and more modern writers."
* Healy 1997 p25 caption
"Probably the earliest representation of a Gaul in Italian art comes from a red-figure vase. As the detail from it shows, he carries the distinctive oval Celtic shield, and wears a helmet of 'Montefortino' type."
* Burton 1884 p268-269
"[W]e see on an Urban medal of Rimini, dating from the domination of the Senones, a long-haired and moustachio'd Gaul, and on the reverse a broad Spatha, with scabbard and chain. This is repeated on another coin of the same series, where a naked Gaul, protected by an oblong shield, assails with the same kind of Sword. A third shows the Gaul with two gladii, one shorter than the other. The scabbards and chains were of bronze or iron."
Secondary Sources
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Field Notes
