pezhetairoi organisation

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

according to english in his book 'the army of alexander the great', there are 6taxis,

each was divided into 3 lochoi commanded by a lochagos. each lochos had 32 files (which i don't know how to call in greek) commanded by a dekadarch.

where does one fit the syntagma? according to wikipedia (i know this is a terrible source but better this than no source) the file itself was called a lochos.

are there for every lochos 32 dekadarchs or are there 31 dekadarchs and 1 lochagos? i mean, was it a separate command or do you have to fit the lochagos in the phalanx itself?

tnx!

[Macedon]

Unfortunately we know little on this issue. We can relatively safely say that the Macedonian pezetairoi were divided in taxeis of 1,500 (or approximately 1,500) men but there is little evidence as to the rest. Our most exact sources are the much later manuals and histories of Alexander's exploits. The author of the book you are referring to tries to follow Arrian who clearly places the dekadarches as file leaders in Alexander's mixed formation of Macedonians and the Persians of Peucestas, he speaks of lochagoi and taxiarchoi as well as of chiliarchoi and pentakosiarches (those two most probably regarding the hypaspists alone as far as Macedonian troops are concerned). One can conveniently assume that, first, Arrian uses the original terms and secondly that in his work he does not speak of other officers because there were none (most improbable in my opinion). The author only speaks of 3 lochoi per taxis because he thinks that it is the most rational division of a 1,500 man strong taxis and not because of any evidence, since thus he can come to the 512 key number of the manuals. He could as easily have proposed 6 lochoi of 256 men or evern 12 of 128, since Arrian never defines a lochos in his Anabasis... In all, this is just a theory and under no circumstances should it be taken for granted.

The lochos was in the time of Arrian and quite some time before him synonymous with the file. It kept this meaning all the way into the late Byzantine years. In more ancient times, it could be a unit of various strengths.

Regarding syntagmata, these are again suggested in the manuals and is a very uncommon term in older writers.