Interview: On the Cavalry of the Seleucid Empire w/ Dr. Silvannen Gerrard

The Hellenistic Age Podcast

History

4.7 • 558 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

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/) Dr. Silvannen Gerrard Links: Twitter (https://twitter.com/WingedBookWyrm) Academia.edu (https://manchester.academia.edu/SilvannenGerrard?from_navbar=true) Social Media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/HellenisticPod) Facebook (www.facebook.com/hellenisticagepodcast/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hellenistic_age_podcast/) Show Merchandise: Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellenisticAgePod) Redbubble (https://www.redbubble.com/people/HellenisticPod/shop?asc=u) Donations: Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast) Amazon Book Wish List (https://tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there. You're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.
0:12.6	Interview episode on the Cavalry of the Seleucid Empire with Dr. Silvan and Gerard.
0:22.6	Thank you. Dr. Sylvann and Gerard. Hello everyone. Joining us on the show today is Dr. Sylvain and Gerard, a recent PhD graduate from the University
0:31.6	of Manchester. Dr. Gerard is a historian of the Hellenistic period.
0:36.6	The bulk of her research is focused on warfare during the Hellenistic Age,
0:40.3	specifically the cavalry traditions of the Seleucid Empire.
0:44.3	She has written a number of articles on the role of animals in Hellenistic warfare for sites like Bad Ancient,
0:49.3	and has appeared on other history shows and podcasts.
0:52.3	But today she is here to share her work and discuss the Salukids.
0:56.5	First off, I'd just like to say welcome and thank you very much for coming on to the show.
1:00.5	Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be here.
1:03.5	Would you mind giving the audience a bit of your educational background and how you got involved into the Hellenistic period and the study of cavalry?
1:12.2	Sure, so I'm currently an honorary research fellow at the University of Manchester, where, as you
1:17.6	mentioned, I recently completed my PhD in Classics and Ancient History. It's also where I did my
1:22.8	master's and undergraduate degrees. So my PhD research focused on the cavalry of the Seleucid Empire as well as
1:30.3	as unconventional mounted troops, so by which I mean the war elephants, the scythe chariots, the camel arches, the things like that.
1:38.3	And my research was concerned with exploring the development of the mounted arm in this period,
1:43.3	and how these different elements
1:45.0	were integrated into the theoretical and tactical conceptions of the army as a whole.
1:50.0	So this research stemmed from my master's dissertation on Hellenistic War Elephants, and I was first
1:55.5	interested in the Hellenistic period because this is a time of great cultural interaction and development. You know, so you have Alexander's Greek Macedonians alongside the different indigenous peoples and cultures of the ancient Near East.
2:07.6	And I'm particularly interested in how the introduction and use of these more unusual and unconventional units,
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