> 'Mithridates again put in an appearance with about 200 cavalry and
> about 400 archers and slingers. These were lightly armed and very
> quick on their feet........his men, both cavalry and foot, suddenly
> shot their arrows, while the others slung stones and caused some
> casualties. The Greek rearguard suffered badly, but were unable to
> retaliate, since their Cretan archers could not shoot so far as the
> Persians and also, being light troops, had taken refuge in the
> centre of the square; as for the javelin-throwers, their range was
> not great enough to reach the Persian slingers.
> It is actually debatable whether the Cretan archers outranged the
> Persian slingers or not. Xenephon seems to imply it, however, in his
> discussion and the reason they failed to make any impression on the
> Persian slingers may be that they retreated inside the infantry
> square to avoid the fire of the Persian archers.
>
> Sling range therefore seems to depend on the type of ammunition. Bow
> range depends on the draw weight of the bow (the Persians used
> heavier bows than the Cretans).
Ancient bows weren't all that long-ranged - we're not talking English longbows here. Xenephon's missile troops probably retreated into the phalanxes because of the threat of cavalry, and the bows would not have the range to hit the enemy from the back ranks. This tactic remained true up to the Napoleanic wars - the Square was the basic (and very good) defense against cavalry. Good commanders would threaten the enemy infantry with cavalry to force them into Square, then unload with cannons from outside musket range. The close-packed infantry squares were perfect targets for cannon, and the men could not sally forth to attack the artillery because of the cavalry threat. (Once rifles became the norm, and able to match the range of smoothbore cannon, the square went out of favor for most circumstances - but still by the British used against the Zulu and Dervishes.)
As far as mounted slingers - they are few and far between in the historical record. Enough to say that More-than-Orlanthi-All slingers were foot troops.
RR
C'est par mon ordre et pour le bien de l'Etat que le porteur du pr�sent a
fait ce qu'il a fait.
- Richelieu
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