arrangements originated in the aftermath of the Persian Wars, when there
was a genuine motive for seeking protection from overwhelming alien
troops. We are here face to face with the realities of the process of state
formation, where theoretical arguments about the need for protection may
be one thing but where tens of thousands of strangers, requisitioning food,
fuel, and fodder, acted as a catalyst for state formation amongst commu-
nities that would otherwise have had no particular reason for acquiescing
in the existence of a higher level of authority. Here in Thrace specifically,
as in Macedonia, native communities conceded authority to those social
groups who commanded a technical and strategic advantage that could be
used to mobilize against a large invading force, namely horsepower. The
cavalry horse was a vital strategic asset in an age when horses were the
fastest form of transport and communication. Persian cavalry units con-
stituted the state of the art until they were outfaced by Alexander the
Great’s Macedonian and allied cavalry units at the River Granikos and
especially at the battles of Issus and Gaugamela.^17
In this way the formation of kingdoms in Macedonia and Thrace
reflected the same dynamic of community union that wefind repre-
sented in the Aegean and central Greece with the formation of the Delian
League. Whereas the Athenians and their Ionian allies opted for a naval
strategy against the Persians from 479bconwards, the kingdoms of
Macedonia and Thrace chose to develop cavalry resources and a corps of
infantrymen who were lighter-armed than the traditional Greek hoplite.
Even so, investment in collective defence required resource, and it is no
accident that coined money appears in the north Aegean area in thefinal
quarter of the sixth and thefirst decades of thefifth centurybc.
Money and metalsThis book explores the economies of the north Aegean in the second half
of thefirst millenniumbc, from the introduction of gold and silver
coinages—largely to pay for military expenditure—until the introduction
of the Tax Law of Asia and its striking preoccupation with the Helle-
spontine Straits; in other words, from the precocious emergence of
coined money in the north Aegean to the incorporation of the north-east
(^17) Bosworth 1988, 261–6 on cavalryfigures and 74–85 on the Gaugamela campaign; Arr.
Anab. 3.11.8; Diod. 17.57.1 (the‘Companion’cavalry orHetairoi, numbered 1800 in the
invasion army at the Hellespont in 334bc; this excludes other cavalry groups, also recruited
on a regional basis, including Paionians and Thracians as well as Thessalians and other
Greeks); Sekunda 2010, 467–70. See further Ch. 4.
Herdsmen with golden leaves—narratives and spaces 49