Throughout the Hellenistic period in the history of warfare cavalry troops played a huge part in the battles. Hellenistic cavalry included various styles of organization and formations, tactics, and specific types of cavalry.

The organization and formations of cavalry during Hellenistic warfare would have been different between the Hellenistic states. Cavalry was very effective in warfare, but was also slowed down by the terrain in the area. This led to states using different formations to organize their cavalry. Organizations of cavalry were not as complicated and large as typical infantry armies. The size of an armies cavalry would not compare to the amount of infantry. This was mainly due to the high cost of maintaining a cavalry in warfare. For the ratio of cavalry to infantry, “it fell from about one to five after Alexander to about one to eight by the end of the third century” (Sage 206). The formation of cavalry can be separated into different parts. One would be hipparchy or Hipparchos which was a cavalry commander. Below the commander was the ila.

During the Hellenistic-era of warfare, there were three main types of cavalry that were used. These were heavy, light, and special cavalry. The heavy cavalry were the more armored cavalrymen. The men would be heavily armored and would carry a spear as their primary weapon. Heavy cavalry or the cataphracts was not used as often as the light and special types of cavalry. The light cavalry were sometimes unarmored and would wield lances and javelins. There was also the use of mounted archers in Hellenistic cavalry. These were trained archers who would ride on horseback and were also effective at shooting a bow while doing so. One of the large advantages of Hellenistic cavalry in warfare was their use of special cavalry. The primary unit in special cavalry was the use of elephants. Elephants, in battle, were effective in confusing the enemy and making the organization of their army fall apart. This would eventually lead to a victory in battle. The use of elephants in this way was not perfectly trustworthy, but elephants helped in other ways. The elephants would carry many soldiers who would wield various types of weapons such as bows, javelins, and other types of projectiles. The elephant played an important role as special unit during the time of war in the Hellenistic era.

Cavalry tactics in warfare during the Hellenistic period would include some of the new types of cavalry that were used in battle, as well as the actions and movements of the cavalry in battle. Using elephants in battle was a fairly effective intimidation force to crush enemy morale . Many enemies would not know how to defend against a group of elephants especially if it was their first encounter against an army using elephants. In Hellenistic warfare, other types of cavalry would be used to outflank the opponent making the enemy have to defend multiple points of attack. In warfare, infantry may seem to be more important than the other types of armies, but during the Hellenistic-era of warfare, cavalry was very useful in determining the outcome of a battle.