Phalange Mixte

[Paralus]

Since it appears to be generally accepted that macedonian infantry could be alternately armed with either with the sarissa or a brace of javelins, is there any evidence that different ranks of the phalanx were thus alterntely armed at the same time to form a mixed phalanx prior to (or after) alexander's experiment?

To my knowledge, no. Alexander, as the anabasis progressed, mixed and matched his armament as the conditions demanded. Thus there is an emphasis on cavalry throughout the Bactrian/Sogdian insurgency with separate columns of infantry following up.

The evidence would suggest that the infantry was armed for the task at hand and that, as the campaign wore on, divisions of the army were deployed in something more closely resembling the hoplite panaoply. No evidence can be readily adduced to support a "mixed" phalanx unit though.

At no stage did Alexander abandon the sarisa armed phalanx as has been suggested by Lane Fox. The refences to the sarisa throughout Diodorus (especially) in the Indian campaign show this. For instance:

Diod. 17.84.4
...hoi gar Makedones tais sarisais anarrêssontes tas tôn barbarôn peltas tas akmas tou sidêrou tois pneumosin enêreidon...

The Macedonians thrust with their long spears through the light shields of the mercenaries.

This, of course, being where Alexander slaughtered the 7,000 Indian mercenaries who had decided not to take up service in his army. In the siege of the town involved Alexander is clearly described by Arrian as leading his hypaspists on foot. It is most likely that these murderous buggers were well involved in the elimination of these mercenaries and their families.

This measure (the mixed phalanx) of Alexander may be due, in part, to the rather lacksadaisical response of Antipater in bringing an army from Macedon to Babylon. Given that Antipater had enormous difficulty in raising an army for the Lamian war, this is understandable. Of more relvance would be the epigoni formed up into "Macedonian" units at Opis. Here Alexander has a troop of companian cavaly (including a Persian royal troop), a unit of aesthetairoi and even a troop of hypaspists (silver shields). His intentions were clear: an army, no longer national, owing its life and allegiance to him. No more argumentative Macedonians who had, by this stage, essentially become professional mercenaries.