(Sekunda in the recent Osprey on Pyrrhus, for instance, thinks that "leukaspides" means they carried white thyreoi.)
That's based on Sekunda's theory that all "leukaspides" are thureophoroi or Thracians. Which makes my brain feel lid less.
The Tarentines had a white shield phalanx that used to be a force to be reckoned with, but had been defeated by Rome leading to atrophy of arms. I reckon most people would say these were hoplites at that time. Hard to say how many hoplite class troops were available- obviously not enough since they kept asking Epirote kings to intervene.
I agree that that any retraining of Tarentines would be as pikemen – if the gear was available. But if they are armed with thureos then why would Samnites be needed to fill in the gaps of their "phalanx"?
Pyrrhus had experience with turning recruits into pikemen- just as the Diadochs did in Asia with willing levies. He must have hired the good drill instructors.
Diodorus:
King Pyrrhus gave the Macedonian phalanx the first place on the right wing and placed next to it the Italiot mercenaries from Tarentum; 2 then the troops from Ambracia and after them the phalanx of Tarentines equipped with white shields,
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By the way- I'd argue that this page is out of date on a lot of this stuff, complain to the page owner he is a lazy good for nothing:
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