Balkan Horseman

"Then came a charge of horsemen. Kalliades had ordered his men to stand firm, locking shields ... [But] the Idonoi riders leapt [their horses] up and into the ranks, scattering the defenders."

— David Gemmell, Shield of Thunder (cap 31)

In game

Balkan Horseman — Vital statistics
	Light mercenary skirmisher cavalry, cheap to create but somewhat tactically mediocre in stats and also too indisciplined to be moved. Strong versus missile infantry, missile cavalry Weak versus cavalry, melee infantry
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrades to
[2]	11.9s (100t)	70	13	13	1.6s (32t)	34
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 90	: 60	1		None	0-5	Bonus damage versus heavy infantry, and elephants. Cannot be directly selected with your mouse.

Overall strategy

Balkan Horsemen are light javelin cavalry who can be recruited instantly from a Sanctuary once the Heroic Age upgrade is obtained from your Library.

See also

• Horseman
• Balkan Peltastai
• Balkan Clubmen
• Balkan Axemen

Note

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• 

This is a mainstream unit in Alexander.

History

The horse’s presence in Europe has influenced everything from religion to warfare throughout time. The modern horse has slowly evolved into its present form over the course of about 60 million years, from Hyracotherium (60 million years ago) to our "modern-day horse," Equus (1 million years ago). This claim is based on various pieces of fossil evidence arranged in an apparent evolutionary pattern, such as the change from five toes on Hyracotherium (some vestigial) to three toes on Mesohippus and then to the single toe of Equus along with the progressing development of hooves. The skulls also shows an evolutionary trend from fossil to fossil, as do the teeth changing from a browser to a grazer.

The domestication of horses is a crucial point in the history of human development. It was once believed tribes in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan were the first to domesticate horses in 3500 BC. But French scientists disproved this theory, and now most think it more likely that horses were domesticated around 2000BCE. The earliest location and period horses were first domesticated have evaded scientists. The most likely time frame is 2000 BC, and the location could be Eastern Europe, Russia, or Central Asia, or Mongolia; there is still no clear answer. The general hypothesis as early as the 2010 is that the Yamnaya culture (c 3000s-2600s BCE one of the so-called "Kurgan cultures" of East Europe and Central Asia) were probably the first peoples in the western half of Eurasia to domesticate and use horses as both transportation and cavalry, and eventually transmitted horses and equestrian skills farther south and westward into the Balkans.

References

• Horse Racing Sense, The Origin, History, and Uses of the Horse in Europe