02-12-2012, 02:32 AM
Logistics in ancient armies is a highly debatable and difficult issue. I also believe that Herodot's numbers are inflated but I think we highly underestimate the logistical capabilities of ancient empires. Xerxes supposedly prepared for this campaign for three whole years (IIRC) and I seriously doubt he would engage in such a campaign without having a serious numerical advantage. The 100,000 men fighting on the Greek side at Plataea and the as many men serving as crews for the fleet are not at all improbable and Xerxes should be able to field much more than that. Actually, there was a very interesting quote I saw somewhere as to why the 100,000 Greeks at Troy should not be discounted as a LOW number because Greece at that time was much poorer than it was at the time the quote was written... And Diodorus also speaks against treating the huge numbers of the Persians armies with disbelief by stating that Asia in those times was much more populous (maybe he is flawed here?) and then bringing as examples as huge numbers amassed in more recent times, which he holds as well attested and uncontested. I think that such a discussion could be very interesting. We could examine and compare examples of what seem to be "ridiculously" inflated numbers and see whether they were indeed possible to amass or not... What I am certain of is a tendency to give very low numbers as global and local populations in ancient times which might be a reason why big numbers (whatever "big" might mean) sound improbable at first sight...
