THE WARRIOR The Silver Shields Philip’s and Alexander’s Hypaspists
IN THE LATE SUMMER OF 318 BCE, IN THE SPUTTERING EMBERS OF THE FIRST BLOODY WAR OF THE ‘SUCCESSORS” (DIADOCHOI) OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, EUMENES OF CARDIA SHELTERED SOMEWHERE ON THE ANATOLIAN PLATEAU IN THE HEART OF CAPPADOCIA WITH SOME 2,500 ‘FRIENDS’ AND ALLIES. EUMENES HAD, WITHIN THE LAST YEAR, BEEN DEFEATED IN THE FIELD BY ANTIGONUS MONAPHTHALMUS, A FORMER GENERAL AND SATRAP ©JohnnyShumate OF ALEXANDER WITH THE GLINT OF EMPIRE IN HIS ONE EYE. ‘SilverShield’withsarissaand pelte, equipped for duty with ByMichaelPark theMacedonianphalanx.
Eumenes’ position, unprepossessing mentallydeficientPhilipIII.Apartfrom additional money he requested for atbest,wasimprovedmarkedlybythe appointinghim“GeneraloftheArgead the raising of mercenaries” (Diodorus arrival of a letter, from Polyperchon House” in Asia, the letter carried an Siculus18.58.2-3). in Macedonia, the guardian of and authorisation for Eumenes to draw Displaying great faith in his royal regent for ‘the kings’: Alexander fivehundredtalentsfromthetreasury letter, Eumenes – ‘friends’ in tow IV (Alexander’s infant son) and the in Cyinda, Cilicia, and “whatever –forcedmarchedtoCyinda.Thatfaith
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was rewarded when he was joined wouldindicate. the hypaspists or the royal hypaspists by three thousand intimidating old The Macedonian Silver Shields, or andactedastheking’sguardwhenhe sweatsofthecampaignsofAlexander Argyraspids, were an elite corps. They foughtonfoot.Itisunderthesenames and Philip. Having come “from a are described by Diodorus (17.57.2) as that we find them operating under considerable distance in obedience to “being distinguished by the brilliance Alexanderineverysetpiecebattleand thelettersofthekings”(Diod.18.59.1), ofitsarmsandthebraveryofitsmen” most every other action described by thethreethousandMacedonianSilver and,atthegreatbattleofParaetecene the Alexander historians of antiquity. Shields (so named for the silver arms in317,as“undefeatedtroops,thefame They are always in close attendance provided them by Alexander at the of whose exploits caused much fear uponthekingwhetherinthephalanx beginningoftheIndiancampaign),led amongtheenemy”(18.28.1).Aswellthey lineoraroundthekingwhenhefought by Antigenes and Teutamos, billeted mighthaveformanyoftheseveterans onfootorledvariousassaults. themselves within the royal general’s hadservedbothPhilipIIandAlexander camp.Thiswas,aseventswouldshow, of Macedon. They were the picked Elite warriors thesignallyimportantoutcomeofthe corpsoftheMacedonianfootandhad The ‘regular’ hypaspists, as is letterstoEumenes.Itwasalsoadeadly rendered a lifetime of professional reasonably attested, were brigaded doubleedgedsword. service to the Macedonian kings. into three chiliarchies (units of 1,000) Indeed, Justin describing Alexander’s andwereselectedforinclusiononthe Atthistimetheyoungestofthe invasionarmyof334notesthathetook basis of skill, physique and quality. Silver Shields were about sixty men not “in the flower of their age, Whatsetthisunitapartwasitscalibre: years old, most of the others butveterans,mostofwhomhadeven this was a unit where inclusion was about seventy, and some even passed their term of service, and who based solely on merit; departure was older; but all of them were had fought under his father and his occasioned by death or retirement by irresistiblebecauseofexperience uncles;sothathemightbethoughtto theking.Theopompus(FGrH115F348) and strength, such was the skill havechosen,notsoldiers,butmasters describes them as “the largest and and daring acquired through in war” (11.6). These “masters of war” most powerful men”. These warriors the unbroken series of their had also managed, after Alexander’s were to prove themselves equally battles. death,tokeeptheircorporateidentity at home alongside the units of the andwereasferociousinguardingthat phalanx in pitched battle; assaulting Diod.19.41.2 corporatereputationastheyweretheir fortified positions; acting in support king: of cavalry and in rapid skirmishing The wider effects of this corps of alongsidelighterinfantryunits. veterans joining the ‘royal general’ But the Argyraspids disdained Much ink has been spent in the wide cannot easily be overstated and the all leaders in comparison ranging debate over just exactly how reaction–frombothEgyptandPhrygia with Alexander, and thought thesetroopswerearmed;muchofthat –wasimmediate. service under other generals inkontheshielditselfanditssize.This Ptolemy sailed to Cilicia with his dishonourabletothememoryof due,innosmallpart,tothename‘shield fleet and engaged in a determined sogreatamonarch. bearers’. There are strong arguments effort to convince the Silver Shields that rather than being armed in the to desert their general. In the words Diod,14.6.7 fashionoftheMacedonianphalangite of Diodorus, he was ignored as “no thehypaspistcorpswasfieldedinthe one paid him any attention because Thiswasanattitudethatsawitsmost hoplitepanoply:cuirassorbreastplate, the kings and Polyperchon, their lethal expression when the Silver greaves, two and a half metre (eight guardian, and Olympias, the mother Shields’ general Antigenes, among foot) thrusting spear with butt-spike, of Alexander, had written to them” others, murdered the arrogant and helmet and aspis. This is likely true in (18.62.2). Antigonus, too, sent agents aggrandisingmarshalPerdiccas.These many situations. For instance, during to Eumenes’ camp to entreat with coldly professional veterans’ loyalty the attack on the Malli town in India, the commanders of the Silver Shields. hadbeengiventothebest:Philipand when Alexander leaps down into the Promising rewards or retribution, he Alexander and they did not suffer townfromthebattlementshedefends toowasroundlyrebuffed. ‘pretenders’lightly. himselfwithashieldthatisunlikelyto The corps that became the Silver havebeenaphalangitepelte-a‘lighter’ Origins Shields had grown from the noble shield of some two feet in diameter Allowing for rhetorical exaggeration bodyguard unit of the Macedonian and designed to hang over the left of the ages (it is more likely that the monarchy, the pezhetairoi or foot shoulder.Peucestasandtheotherroyal bulkwillhavebeenintheirfiftiesand companions.Asthatnamecametobe hypaspists with him will have been sixties),itisreadilyapparentthatthese appliedtotheMacedonianinfantryas armedsimilarly. troops,3,000strongandpartofaforce a whole, most likely under Alexander, This is also likely to be true in the numbering – at this stage – fifteen the unit became the hypaspists or many instances when the hypaspists thousand, were of an importance far shield bearers”. The original noble areassaultingotherfortifiedpositions beyondthatwhichtheirmerenumbers nucleus continued as the agema of using scaling ladders or when – as
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historiansofAlexander,writingforan audience who will have needed little explanation, provide the best and themostfrustrating–intermsofthe detailthatmodernswouldlike–guide here. In every set piece pitched battle thehypaspistsarestationedonthefar right of the taxeis (battalions) of the phalanx.Inthispositiontheyabutthe king and his Companion Cavalry. This is so at the Granicus River, Issus and Gaugamela as well as the Hydaspes where these are the units that cross the river upstream with the King. The foremostreasonforthispositioningis thatitistheremitofthisunitand–a fortiori – its agema to keep, as much asispossible,inclosecontactwiththe king. The counter argument is that the hypaspists are stationed here so as to guard the otherwise vulnerable flank ofthephalanx.Toperformsuchatask the hypaspists then must be armed in the more ‘agile’ hoplite fashion and not burdened with heavy saris- sae. As well, this will enable the royal hypaspists to perform the tasks of the hamippoi – light infantry trained to operate among the cavalry. Whilst thismightbeso,itentirelymissesthe fact that Craterus, the great infantry commander of the left, is afforded no suchprotectiontohisimmediateleftin anyofthesebattles.Infactthisendof thelineisonlygrantedtheThessalian andalliedcavalryprotection.Thework
©JohnnyShumate of the hamippoi, one suspects, will more likely have been performed by thelighterarmouredandmulti-javelin armedAgrianes. Arrian (Anab, 3.14.2), describing ‘Silver Shield’ using the classic aspis the climactic clash at Gaugamela, andsword,usedwhenmoreflexibility describes Alexander as moving to the wasrequired. rightandforwardwithhisCompanion Cavalry. His hypaspists, with the phalanx following, will have moved at Tyre – the hypaspists (and Coenus’ that, outside of pitched battle, these likewise. When the gap in the Persian brigadeofinfantry)assaultthecityvia troops will have been armed for the cavalry front opens up, he writes that adrawbridgefromatowerconstructed jobinhand.Thustheskirmishingwill Alexander“madepromptlyforthegap, on ships tied together (Arr. 2.23; Diod, have been performed with javelins and, with his Companions and all the 17.46.1-2). It would be unlikely in the ratherthanthesarisaandtheassaults, heavyinfantryinthissectoroftheline, extreme that the Macedonian sarissa, almostcertainly,intheabovedescribed droveinhiswedge…”. the fifteen to eighteen foot pike, was hoplitepanoplyorsimilar. Alexander will not likely have crossed carriedonsuchamission.Thatwould back in front of his own advancing apply even more so when these elite Tactics infantry. Rather, he will have troops followed Alexander and the That this was the case with phalanx straightened the advance and the companions in rapid pursuits and fighting in pitched battle situations infantryreferredtoisalmostcertainly skirmishes.Thereisthenlittlequestion is far less clear though. The ancient thehypaspistcorps.
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Equipment andthecavalryseemtooperatealmost Shields,wasoverwhelminglyvictorious. The likelihood is that, when stationed independently. InadescriptionredolentofGaugamela, alongside the taxeis of the phalanx, The positioning of the units in Diodorus (Diod, 19.43.1) says that the the hypaspists were armed in the Eumenes’lineforbothbattlesindicates SilverShields“beingincloseorderfell same fashion as the phalanx units. that the Silver Shields were engaging heavily upon their adversaries, killing That would see them using what, for in phalanx fighting. In both battles some in hand to hand fighting and the Macedonian infantryman and the hypaspists of Eumenes (most forcing others to flee. They were not hypaspist, was the Macedonian ‘basic likely Asian ‘successor’ infantry) are checked in their charge and engaged weapon’: the sarissa. This weapon, abuttinghisversionoftheCompanion the entire opposing phalanx showing a murderous pike, was between 4.5 Cavalry. Immediately alongside them themselves so superior in skill and to 5.5 metres (fifteen and eighteen are Alexander’s frightening veterans. strength”thattheyslewover5,000of feet) long. It was tipped with a leaf- Even though only three thousand, theenemy. shaped point some fifty centimetres they were, as Diodorus puts it, “the TheSilvershieldsandEumenes’infantry (20 inches) in length weighing a little spearheadofthewholearmy”(19.30.6). had the field but, without cavalry over a kilo (2.5 lb). The bottom end They proceeded to prove this at support, they couldn’t hold it. Worse, wascounterweightedwithabutspike Paraetecene where, leading Eumenes’ AntigonushadtheSilverShields’wives, some forty-four centimetres long (17.5 phalanx forward, they destroyed the children and the collected treasure inches) and a kilo (2.24lb) in weight. enemy infantry opposed to them and of forty odd years of campaigning. Itmayhavebeenstoredintwopieces contributedgreatlytothe3,700dead In an act of utter treachery, their co- and joined by a sleeve though that is and4,000woundedamongAntigonus’ commander, Teutamos, and others notatallcertain. troops. arrangedtoswapEumenes,Antigenes UnlikethestandardGreekinfantryman, Itis,though,atGabienethatthetruly and others for the their belongings. the hoplite, the Macedonian fearsome and implacable nature of Antigonus, trusting them no further, infantryman did not wear a cuirass the Silver Shields is on display. Nearly disbandedthemanddispatchedthem orbreastplateofbronze.Thefactthat two years of cat and mouse feint and in groups to the outposts of empire ■ thefirstfiverowsofsarissaeprotruded counterfeintacrossCappadocia,Cilicia, theretobe“wornout”. beyond the front rank, presenting Babylonia and Susiana had led finally an iron hedgehog of sarissa points, to Persis and a cold, dry and dusty Michael Park trained as a teacher in negatedtheneedforsucharmour:the salt plain south of modern Isfahan English, history and science back in serried sarissae performed that task. in early January of 316. Eumenes had the seventies; currently director of an Instead the phalangite utilised the stationed himself and the bulk of his employment services company and linothorax a glued, multi-layer linen heavycavalryontheleft.Hishypaspists avid reader in Greek and Near Eastern cuirass. were to his immediate right and the ancient history and collector of con- The pelte shield, some sixty or more SilverShieldstotheirimmediateright. comitantclassics. centimetres (two feet) in diameter As the advancing armies closed an and lacking the aspis rim, was slung eight kilometre (five mile) gap, their offtheleftshoulderandalongtheleft commander, Antigenes, sent out a armbymeansofabaldricorsling.This rider to appraise the Macedonians in facilitatedtheuseofbotharmstowield theopposingarmy–acleargeneration the sarissa which will have weighed younger – just who it was they were some 6.5 kilos (14-15lb). Completing facing. When he found these troops, thearmourwastheknemides(greaves) the rider began yelling, until being andkranosorhelmet,generallyofthe drivenoff: lobed‘Phrygian’type,whichmayhave had cheek pieces. A sword too was You are sinning against you carried. The sources are not clear but fathers you degenerates, the Further reading itlikelywasaxyphosordoubleedged men who conquered the world A.B. Bosworth, The Legacy of thrustingswordsomefiftycentimetres withPhilipandAlexander Alexander: Politics, Warfare and (20inches)long. Propaganda under the Successors Diod.19.41.1 Oxford2002 In battle A.B. Bosworth, Conquest and Itisinthislaterfashionthatwefindthe For good measure he added that “in EmpireCambridge1988 SilverShieldsattestedoperatinginthe a little while they (the enemy) would W. Heckel and Ryan Jones, armyofEumenes.ThesecondDiadoch see that these veterans were worthy Macedonian Warrior Oxford Warisframedbythetwogreatbattles, of both of those kings and of their 2006) ParaeteceneandGabiene,onlyamatter own past battles”. (ibid). Indeed they W. Heckel, The Marshals of ofsomeeightweeksorlessapart.What were.Although,duetobasetreachery, Alexander’s Empire London and defines these engagements are the Eumenes lost the cavalry battle, his NewYork1992 battles within the battle: the infantry phalanx, led by the implacable Silver
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