charioteers

The old counter-argument -- which even then was speculative -- was that the armor was intended for charioteers.

An analogous example might be comparing chariot-riders to the actual charioteers, or elephant-riders to the actual mahouts.

The city would have a standing army of 1-2000 charioteers, whose speed gave them a big advantage on infantry.

And then there were the superstar slaves, such as champion gladiators and charioteers.

To extend your analogy, charioteers were the fighter pilots of their era - a loss of even one was a blow militarily and financially.

One well-supported theory suggests a military innovation that enabled a cheaply-outfitted, quickly recruited army of 10,000 to defeat a standing force of 1000 charioteers.

For some reason my charioteers and pikes didn't hold up well.

The ‘champion of charioteers’ is one of the best-documented ancient athletes, most likely because he was such a star at the famous Roman Circus Maximus.

Especially since your army wouldn't have cavalry or charioteers.

If you look at charioteers Theogenes and Porphyrius you can see good examples, Theogenes for example was once fined 2 talents for withdrawing from an event (about 250k dollars).

I looked this up after reading about the Roman charioteers.

Generally speaking, it's the noble riding in the chariot or on the elephant who gets mentioned or depicted; the charioteers and mahouts remain anonymous, if they're mentioned or depicted at all.