TheSciritae orSkiritai orSkioreitai orSkioritai (Greek:Σκιρῖται and Σκιωρεῖται[1]) were a people subject toSparta, whose status is comparable to that of thePerioeci.Deriving their name from the town ofSkiritis, a mountainous region located in northernLaconia on the border withArcadia, between theOenus and theEurotas rivers.
According toStephanus of Byzantium andHesychius of Alexandria, the Sciritae were of Arcadian origin. Their way of life was essentially rural: they mostly lived in villages, of which the biggest were Oion and Caryai. Their territory was inhospitable, but was of strategic importance for Sparta since it controlled the road toTegea, which explains why it rapidly fell in Spartan hands. Their status was similar to that of the Perioeci, butXenophon distinguished between them writing: "To meet the case of a hostile approach at night, he assigned the duty of acting as sentries outside the lines to the Sciritae. In these days the duty is shared by foreigners, if any happen to be present in the camp."[2]
In war the Sciritae formed anelite corps oflight infantry, alochos (battalion) of about 600 men, which were used as a complement to thecivic army. According toThucydides (v. 67), they fought on the extreme-left wing in the battle-line, the most threatening position for thehoplitephalanx: "In this battle the left wing was composed of the Sciritae, who in a Lacedaemonian army have always that post to themselves alone". At night, they were placed as sentinels ahead of the army (Xenophon,Constitution of the Spartans, xii. 3) and acted as scouts to open the way for the king, whom they only could precede.
According toSuda, they were six hundred men and during the battle they were the first to engage and the last to withdraw.[1]
In theCyropaedia (IV, 2), Xenophon compares them to theHyrcanian cavalry, used by theAssyrians as rear-guard.