Book chapter
The Royal Elite of the Achaemenid Army
A Companion to Greek Warfare, pp.181-194
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
01/05/2021
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Abstract
This chapter focuses on the core of the Achaemenid army, in particular what might be described as those forces most closely associated with the king and that seem to have been on permanent duty within the Achaemenid homeland-to use a late Roman term, the "palatine" army. Happily, some few literary and visual sources help us to understand the more permanent Iranian forces under the king, and this chapter will draw upon these to supplement sources dealing with Achaemenid Persia from a Greek or Roman perspective. Arrian’s description of Persian cavalry and infantry being mixed on the left wing at Gaugamela, together with groups of other ethnicities, probably refers to such troops. Visual depictions can be misleading, as Persian iconography, such as illustrations from the royal palaces at Susa and Persepolis, tends to depict soldiers in court settings, where armor would have proved largely unnecessary, and certainly burdensome.
Details
- Title
- The Royal Elite of the Achaemenid Army
- Creators
- Michael B Charles
- Contributors
- Waldemar Heckel (Editor)F. S Naiden (Editor)E. Edward Garvin (Editor)John Vanderspoel (Editor)
- Publication Details
- A Companion to Greek Warfare, pp.181-194
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc; 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
- Number of pages
- 13
- Identifiers
- 991013097818902368
- Copyright
- © 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Academic Unit
- Management; Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter