02-15-2012, 10:39 PM
Quote:No, not at all Peter. 8-)
However, as I said, while I figure the figures quoted, whatever they really are, are inflated, I
still think the army and logistics train involved may well have numbered close to a million men.
It would be a feasable figure, and one easily latched onto and used to, as has been said, exaggerate the opposing combat forces. The Empire was a fair bit larger than Greece, after all.
I seem to vaugely recall a figure of either 400,000 or 140,000 being mentioned as the force
Xerxes left behind with , was it Marodonius?, after he was defeated at Salamis?
Still a huge figure.
A million men?
Let's see. 3 million liters of water per day, ~5 thousand tonnes of food per day not counting the pack animals. Yeah, sure. :mrgreen:
Remember, the whole army was previously assembled before Sardis. Which means it both had to fit in the plain, and it had to be sustained in a single quite remote province.