THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SARISA IN MACEDONIAN WARFARE Abstract: When was the sarisa introduced in Macedonia? Our ancient sources would seem to answer this question rather readily. Polyaenus (IV 2.10) relates that «Philip [II] … made them take up their arms, … carrying helmets, shields, greaves, sarisai, …» Diodorus (XVI 3.1-2) appears to put this in a clear chronological context. After relating the death of Perdiccas and 4000 Macedonians, Diodorus states, «Philip was not panic-stricken by the magnitude of the expected perils, but, bringing together the Macedonians … and … having improved the organization of his forces and equipped the men suitably with weap- ons of war … he devised the compact order and the equipment of the phalanx … and was the first to organize the Macedonian phalanx.» Despite these ancient accounts, it has been argued that Philip did not introduce the sarisa until 336 BC at the earliest. This paper will con- clude that Philip introduced the sarisa into the ranks of both his infan- try and cavalry by the winter of 359/8 BC. When was the sarisa introduced in Macedonia? Our ancient sources would seem to answer this question rather readily. Polyaenus (IV. 2. 10) relates that «Philip [II] … made them take up their arms, … carrying helmets, shields, greaves, sarisai, …,» and Diodorus appears to put this in a clear chronological context. After relating the deaths of Perdiccas III and more than 4000 Macedonians at the hands of Bardylis and the Illyr- ians1 in 359 BC (XVI 2.4-5)2, Diodorus (XVI 3.1-2) states: Philip was not panic-stricken by the magnitude of the expected perils, but, bringing together the Macedonians … and … having improved the 1 While it is generally believed that Bardylis was the king of the Illyrian Dardanians (for example, ELLIS [1980] 38, [1976] 45, 48; HAMMOND [1966] 239-253), PAPAZOGLU (1978) 137 n. 18 believes that the Dardanians and Illyrians were two different peoples. Appian, however, says that those called Illyrians by the Greeks included all peoples who dwell beyond the borders of Macedonia and Thrace all the way to the Danube (App., Ill. 1.1). Appian (Ill. 1.2) continues that the country was named for Illyrius, the son of Polyphemus, who had six sons, Enchelous, Autarieus, Dardanus, Maedus, Taulas and Perrhaebus; from these and other children sprang, again according to Appian, the various Illyrian tribes. J. WILKES’ view (1992: 87) probably best states the circumstances: «The idea of major undifferentiated peoples such as Celts, Dacians, Thracians and Illyrians still remains useful as a general concept but attempts to define more precisely such groups lead to confusion and disintegration. … In the case of the Illyrians the tendency of modern historical and linguistic researches has been to define Illyrians as a name applied by Greeks to a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples in Albania and Montenegro.» 2 HATZOPOULOS (1982) 21-42 has argued that the battle and Philip’s accession occurred in 360, but see HAMMOND (1994) 196-197 n. 12. Ancient Society 40, 51-68. doi: 10.2143/AS.40.0.2056252 © 2010 by Ancient Society. All rights reserved. 993524_AncSoc_40_03_Anson.indd3524_AncSoc_40_03_Anson.indd 5511 226/11/106/11/10 114:474:47 52 E.M. ANSON organization of his forces and equipped the men suitably with weapons of war … he devised the compact order and the equipment of the pha- lanx … and was the first to organize the Macedonian phalanx.» Many accept Diodorus’ implication that the sarisa-bearing phalanx was the product of Philip’s first year in command of the Macedonian army without question3. John Ellis, Gene Borza, and G. T. Griffith, however, argue that, while Philip was responsible for the transformation of the Macedonian infantry, it was a drawn out process whose date of comple- tion can only be guessed4, and it has even been argued that Philip did not introduce the sarisa into the ranks of his infantry until 338 BC5. There is very little direct evidence regarding Philip’s military reforms. The earliest reference to a sarisa in battle occurs in Didymus’ account (In Dem. 11. 22, col. 13.3-7) of Philip’s leg wound received in the cam- paign against the Triballi6, a campaign generally dated to 339 BC7. According to Didymus, Philip was stabbed by a sarisa during an engage- ment with the enemy. Plutarch (Mor. 331b), however, the only other author to mention a weapon with respect to this incident refers to it sim- ply and amorphously as a logkê8. The earliest indisputably dated remains of sarisai spearheads are associated with the battle of Chaeronea9. Based on inferential evidence this paper will conclude that Philip introduced the sarisa into the ranks of his infantry and probably his cavalry as well by 359/358 BC. Whatever the truth of Thucydides’s statement (II 100.2) that King Archelaus increased the number of available hoplites beyond anything that had existed previously in Macedonia, there is no evidence that this increase, which could not have been very large, had any lasting effect. Certainly, there is no indication of a competent Macedonian infantry force prior to or after this monarch’s reign, and, indeed, virtually none 3 For example, HAMMOND (1994) 25-26. 4 ELLIS (1980) 53, 58; GRIFFITH (1980) 59; cf. GRIFFITH, in HAMMOND & GRIFFITH (1979) 421. BORZA (1990) 202 is doubtful that Philip could have instituted a major reor- ganization of the Macedonian army «within a brief six or seven months». 5 MARKLE (1978) 483, 486-489; cf. MARKLE (1977) 323. 6 Just. IX 3.1-2; cf. Plut., Mor. 331B; Dem. 18.67. 7 HAMMOND (1994) 137; HAMMOND & GRIFFITH (1979) 583. 8 HAMMOND (1994) 136-137 concludes that Philip was wounded by one of his own soldiers apparently basing this argument on the description of the weapon as a sarisa. However, the weapon may have been a long-thrusting spear employed by one of the Triballi (see note 70 and associated text); the use by Didymus of the term sarisa would then simply be anachronistic. 9 SOTIRIADES (1903) 301-330. 993524_AncSoc_40_03_Anson.indd3524_AncSoc_40_03_Anson.indd 5522 226/11/106/11/10 114:474:47 THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SARISA IN MACEDONIAN WARFARE 53 during his reign either10, most of which advantageously for Macedonia took place during the final stages of the Peloponnesian War, a period of Athenian weakness11. Macedonian forces are most often listed as cavalry12. While Herodotus (VII 185) does include Macedonians in his enumeration of Xerxes’ forces, they appear to be exclusively cavalry and their use minimal. They were employed to protect Boeotian towns so that the Boeotians could join the Persian forces13. The cavalry were also present at the Battle of Plataea, but there is no such evidence for heavy Macedonian infantry (Hdts. IX 31.5, cf. 44.1). During the Pelo- ponnesian War there are frequent references to Macedonian cavalry, but few to infantry of any kind14. While a force of hoplites was mustered in 423 BC by King Perdiccas II, these are listed separately from «his Mac- edonian subjects,» as from the «Hellenes living in Macedonia» (Thuc. IV 124.1), either coming from the Greek coastal cities15, or representing Greek migrants domiciled in Macedonia16. Regardless, these were not native Macedonian hoplites. In 429, Sitalces, the «King of the Thra- cians»17, was even able to drive Perdiccas from his throne and replace him with his own candidate, Amyntas, the son of Philip, Perdiccas’ brother, without opposition18. Amyntas III lost many of his cities, includ- ing Pella, to the Olynthians in 383 BC. He was only successful in regaining them with the assistance of the Lacedaemonians19. In the first year of this campaign, the Spartan commander Teleutias prior to battle posted on his right wing his cavalry including «all of the Macedonians present» (ºsoi t¬n Makedónwn par±san)20. There is no mention of Macedonian 10 He did successfully besiege Pydna with «a large force» (Diod. XIII 49.1-2). 11 Archelaus avoided war to a very great extent. He stayed out of the Peloponnesian War, aided by the decline in Athenian power in particular after the Syracusan debacle, and apparently secured his western frontier through diplomacy and marriage (BORZA [1990] 163-164). Archelaus did intervene late in his reign in the affairs of Thessaly, inter- vening at the invitation of Larisa and acquiring the region of Perrhaebia (Pseudo-Herodes Atticus, Peri Politeias 4; Thrasymachus, For the Larissaeans 17; cf. BORZA [1990] 164- 165; S. HORNBLOWER [1991] 186; HAMMOND & GRIFFITH [1979] 141). 12 Cf. Thuc. I 61.1, 62.4, 63.2, 4, 124.1. 13 Hdts VIII 34; cf. Hdts. IX 67. 14 In 431 BC both the Peloponnesians and the Athenians during the siege of Potidaea availed themselves of Macedonian cavalry (Thuc. I 61.4, 62.2-3, 63.2). 15 GOMME (1969) 612. 16 HAMMOND (1995) 126 n. 20. 17 Diod. XII 50.1. 18 Diod. XII 50.6-7. Sitalces did invade with a very large force (Diod. XII 50.1). 19 Xen., Hell. V 2.13, 38, 3.26; Diod. XV 19.2-3, 20.3. 20 Xen., Hell. V 2.40. 993524_AncSoc_40_03_Anson.indd3524_AncSoc_40_03_Anson.indd 5533 226/11/106/11/10 114:474:47 54 E.M. ANSON infantry. Later, Alexander II was forced to relinquish gains in Thessaly and to conclude an alliance with the Boeotians21, when the latter invaded Macedonia. To ensure the king’s conduct in the future, Alexander was forced to surrender his brother Philip, the future king, as a hostage22. There is then no evidence for such a true heavy infantry force until the reign of Philip II. In particular, the Macedonians were frequently the victims of Illyrian aggression.