Hippeis

It was the duty of the boule (council) to see that the cavalry was in good condition and to examine new members with respect to their equipment and eligibility.

Every horseman received equipment money on joining and a subsidy for keeping a groom and two horses; this grew to be an annual grant from the state, amounting to forty talents, but regular pay was only given in the field.

The rich had only to provide horses, equipment, and armour; in time of war, those deemed unfit for service as hoplites were drafted to the cavalry and dispatched without any preliminary drill.

[1] The utility of the Greek citizen-cavalry was low on account of their heavy armor, their metal helmet, and their coat of mail, their metal-fringed kilts, their cuisses reaching to the knee and their leather leggings.

Although in earlier times the number of horsemen in the Greek forces was low, in Alexander's later army they formed nearly a sixth.

The Macedonian cavalry was divided into heavy and light, both consisting of squadrons (ilai) of an average strength of 200 men.

The light cavalry, which was formed under the name of prodromoi (skirmishers), consisted of Macedonian sarissophoroi, so-called from the sarissa, a lance from 14 to 16 feet (4.9 m) long (Polybius, XVIII, 12), and of Thracian horsemen.

[2] Three main evolutionary stages transpired in ancient Greece, starting in the Mycenaean period approximately 1400 BC.