Army of ancient Macedon

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Roman mosaic of the Battle of Issus
Roman mosaic of the Battle of Issus

The army of ancient Macedon is considered to be among the greatest military forces of the ancient world. It became the formidable force known from history first under the rule of King Philip II of Macedon and then his son, Alexander the Great.

The latest innovations in weapons and tactics, along with unique combination of military elements introduced by Phillip II, came together into the army that won an intercontinental empire. By introducing the military as a full-time occupation, Philip was able to drill his men regularly, ensuring unity and cohesion in his ranks. In a remarkably short time, this led to one of the finest military machines that Asia or Greece had ever seen.

Tactical innovations included the latest tactics applied on the traditional Greek phalanx by men such as Epaminondas, as well as coordinated attacks (early combined arms) between the various arms of his army--phalanx, cavalry, missile troops, and (under Alexander III) siege engines. Weapons introduced included the sarissa, a type of counter-weighted (like all Greek spears) long pike, which gave its wielder many advantages, both offensively and defensively.

A drawing of a Macedonian phalanx (the shields are smaller and lighter than with a traditional hoplite phalanx, the sarissa is twice as long as the traditional spears and fully enclosed helmets weren't as widespread as the drawing suggests)
A drawing of a Macedonian phalanx (the shields are smaller and lighter than with a traditional hoplite phalanx, the sarissa is twice as long as the traditional spears and fully enclosed helmets weren't as widespread as the drawing suggests)

The new Macedonian army was an amalgamation of different forces. Macedonians and other Greeks (especially Thessalian cavalry) and a wide range of mercenaries from across the Aegean were employed by Phillip. By 338 BC, close to two thirds of the army for his planned invasion of Persia came from outside the borders of Macedon--from all over the Greek world and the Balkans.

Contents

[edit] Macedonian cavalry

Ancient depiction of Macedonian cavalry.
Ancient depiction of Macedonian cavalry.

The Companion cavalrymen were the elite arm of the Macedonian army, and have been regarded as the best cavalry[1] in the ancient world. Along with Thessalian cavalry contigents, the Companions--raised from landed nobility--made up the bulk of the Macedonian heavy cavalry.

The Companion cavalry (hetairoi, mounted noble 'companions'; like philoi (basilikoi) '(royal) friends', the term became an aulic title in the diadochi period) was divided into eight squadrons called ile, each 200 men strong, except for the Royal Squadron, which numbered 300. They were equipped with a 3 meter spear/lance called the xyston, and a variety of body armor. During the reign of Alexander the Great, cavalrymen carried no shields. However, the Companion cavalry of the Antigonid dynasty did carry large, round bossed shields of Thracian origin. The Companion cavalry was usally deployed in wedges, a formation that facilitated both maneuverability and the shock of the charge.

The famous Thessalian cavalry accompanied Alexander the Great into the deapths of Asia and was at times employed by the Macedonians as allies. Its organization was similar to the Companion Cavalry. Shorter spears and javelins were wielded and looser, rhomboid formations were employed. The numbers given for Alexander's invasion of Persia included 1800 such men. They were typically entrusted with the defensive role of guarding the left flank. The Companions were of a similar number, stationed themselves on the right flank (this being the position of honour in Hellenic armies, where the best troops would be positioned), and typically carried out the decisive maneuver/assault of the battle.

Of light cavalry, the prodromoi (runners) secured the wings of the army during battle and went on reconnaissance missions. Several hundred allied horsemen, raised from a variety of places, filling various roles and wielding different equipment rounded out the cavalry. By the time Alexander III returned from India, the cavalry had been drastically reformed, and included thousands of horse-archers, mounted missile troops, and Asiatic heavy cavalry.

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[edit] Macedonian Infantry

[edit] Development

Ancient depiction of Macedonian infantry.
Ancient depiction of Macedonian infantry.

The Macedonian foot soldiers were formed into an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire and other armies. These infantrymen were called Pezhetairoi--the Foot Companions--and made up the dreaded Macedonian Phalanx.

Philip II spent much of his youth as a hostage at Thebes, where he studied under the renowned general Epaminondas, whose reforms were the basis for a good part of Phillip's tactics. The Foot Companions were professional soldiers, and their extensive drilling allowed them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies.

[edit] Phalanx

The size of the phalanx fielded by Macedon and its various successor states varied greatly. Alexander the Great, for example, fielded 9,000 Foot Companions throughout much of his campaign. These were divided into six, 1,500-man brigades, each from a separate district of Macedon. Phillip V fielded 16,000 phalangites at Cynoscephalae, and Perseus reputedly fielded over twenty-thousand phalangites at Pydna.

These soldiers fought in close-ranked rectangular formations, of which the smallest tactical echelon was the 256-man syntagma/ spheira. This formation typically fought eight- or sixteen men deep and thirty-two or sixteen men across. Each file of 16 men included two junior officers (one at the head and one at the rear) and a tertiary leader (at the middle of the file). The commander of this formation theoretically fought at the head of extreme far-right file. According to Aelian, a syntagma was accompanied by five additional individuals to the rear: a herald (to act as a messenger), a trumpeter (to sound out commands), an ensign (to hold the unit's standard), an additional officer (called ouragos), and a servant.

Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a pike over 6 m (18 ft) in length, with a counterweight and spiked end at the rear. The length of these pikes was such that they had to be wielded with two hands in battle. At close range such large weapons were of little use, but an intact phalanx could easily keep its enemies at a distance; the weapons of the first five rows of men all projected beyond the front of the formation, so that there were more spearpoints than available targets at any given time. A phalangite also carried a sword as a secondary weapon for close quarter fighting.

The armament of the Phalangites is described by the military decree of Amphipolis (ca. 200 BC).[2]It envisages the fines upon the soldiers missing their armament. Listed defensive equipment included a non-metallic armour (kotthybos /κότθυβος), an ogive helmet (kônos / κῶνος), a shield (aspis /ἀσπίς) and leggings (knêmides /κνημίδες); offensive weapons (sarissa /σάρισα) and a short sword (machaira /μάχαιρα). The officers wore heavier armour(thorax/θώραξ) or half-armour (hemithorakion/ἡμιθωράκιον). It should be stressed that the archaeological discoveries show that the phalangites could also use the two-edged sword (xiphos/ξίφος) as well as the spear (doru/δόρυ) shorter than sarissa. What is not known is whether the above indicates standardized equipment or the minimum expected for each soldier.

Alexander did not actually use the phalanx as the decisive arm of his battles, but instead used it to pin the enemy while his heavy cavalry broke through their ranks. An example of this is the Battle of Gaugamela, where, after using maneuver to over-extend Dareius' formation, the Companions broke through the weakened enemy center and were followed by the hypaspists and the phalanx proper.

Other forces — skirmishers, range troops, reserves of allied hoplites, Cretan archers, and artillery — were also employed. The phalanx carried with it a fairly minimal baggage train, with only one servant for every ten men. This gave it a marching speed that contemporary armies could not hope to match — on occasion forces surrendered to Alexander simply because they were not expecting him to show up for several more days. This was thanks to the training Phillip instilled in his army--which included regular forced marches.

The Macedonian phalanx itself was thus not very different from the hoplite phalanx of other Greek states. As an evolution of the hoplite formation, it featured improved equipment, training, and tactics. In Phillip's and Alexander's time, the Macedonian phalanx had clear technical superiority.

[edit] Hypaspists

The Hypaspists (Hypaspistai) were the elite arm of the Macedonian infantry: more mobile spearmen who would guard the right flank of the phalanx. These men were used for a variety of missions by Alexander the Great, often in conjunction with the famed Agrianians (elite skirmishers) and select units of phalangites. The hypaspistai were of privileged Macedonian blood and formed the 3,000[3] strong foot bodyguard of Alexander III.They were equipped as hoplites[4].

[edit] Other troops

Philip's control over the mines of northern Greece gave him access to unprecedented (for his part of the world) wealth in gold and silver, and enabled him to build his famous army. Philip and Alexander hired thousands of mercenaries from various nations to round-out their armies. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, records troops as varied as archers from Crete, heavy cavalry from Thessaly (a condeferate state of Macedon), spearmen from Pontus and Phrygian[5] peltasts. These mixed troops provided added strength and flexibility throughout Alexander's conquests.

[edit] Siege warfare

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See Polyidus of Thessaly,Diades of Pella

[edit] Combined Tactics

Macedonian battle formation, courtesy of The Department of History, United States Military Academy. The hypaspists, elite heavy infantry, are mislabeled as elite heavy cavalry.
Macedonian battle formation, courtesy of The Department of History, United States Military Academy. The hypaspists, elite heavy infantry, are mislabeled as elite heavy cavalry.

The Macedonian army was one of the first military force to use tactics taking into account combined, varied forces, using a variety of troops to fulfil specific roles and form a greater whole.

The tactics used by the Macedonian armies throughout the eras of course varied. There were comparatively simplistic tactics, which form the most enduring image of this force: cavalry stationed on either wing of the army, or both, waiting for the phalanx to pin the enemy before charging the foes' flank or rear to devastating effect. There were also very elaborate tactics: at Gaugamela, Alexander III used careful maneuver to overextend enemy lines, a variery of forces to pin his foes striking elements, and mobile elements to make a decisive attack in the weak point he had forced his foe to create.

[edit] Decline

The armies of the Diadochi period were equipped and fought mainly in the same style as Alexander's. Towards the end, however, there was a general slide away from the combined arms approach, and the phalanx once more became the arm of decision, much like in the days of the earlier hoplites. So long as everyone was using the same tactics these weaknesses were not immediately apparent, but against a varied force and complex tactics, the Hellenistic-era phalanx fell prey to its foes as surely as that of Thebes fell to Phillip.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Arrian
  2. ^ SEG 40.524Epigraphical Database German translation
  3. ^ Ellis, J. R. (1976) p 27
  4. ^ Macedonian Warrior Alexander's elite infantryman,page 41,ISBN 9781841769509,2006
  5. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Vol. XV1

[edit] References

  • Diodorus Siculus, "Bibliotheca historica" (Historical Library) volumes XV - XVIII
  • Ellis, J. R. (1976), "Philip II and Macedonian Imperialism"

[edit] Further reading

  • The Seventy Great Battles of All Time, Edited by Jeremy Black, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2005