Iapygian–Tarentine wars

In 466 BC, Taranto was again defeated by the Iapygians; according to Aristotle,[2] who praises its government, there were so many aristocrats killed that the democratic party was able to get the power, to remove the monarchy, inaugurate a democracy, and expel the Pythagoreans.[5] In c.490 BC the Messapians moved against the Tarantines with a composite force of around 8,000 men including shield infantry, skirmishers, and their vaunted cavalry.After their crushing defeat the Messapians would not challenge the polis of Taras again for a generation, but would take care to learn important lessons from this first major encounter.Each one of the three Iapygian states 2-4,000 shock troops, all carrying a short spear and oval shield and most with both a pectoral and a greave on the left leg as well.Both sides loosed a hail of slingers shot and javelins as the Iapygians made a screaming charge into the solid row of spears and polished shields fronting the phalanx.In the end the hoplites failed to break through the superior Iapygians which destroyed the combined Tarentine/Rhegian force who fled in different directions, in what Herodotus described as “the greatest slaughter of Greeks that is known” with 3,000 Reggians and uncountable Tarentines killed.According to Aristotle ( Politica, v 1303a), there were so many aristocrats killed, that the democratic party was able to get the power, to remove the monarchy, inaugurate a democracy, and the expel the Pythagoreans.A decade after the catastrophic defeat of Taras at Kailia in 473 BC, the Tarentines were set for battle, this time perhaps on their own terms near the Iapygian city of Hyria.In 460 BC the Tarentines, apparently confident enough in their own numbers to match up against an Iapygian force alone, were opposed by a much smaller enemy than the massive army brought against Taras thirteen years earlier.[8] Opis, king of the Messapian State had come to aid the Peucetians in the battle but this time the colonial Greek hoplites, backed again by a formidable cavalry arm, proved superior to the Iapygians.