How to portray a Spartan king from the classical era?

[Ghostmojo]

The hippeis were the 300 Spartan bodyguards when on campaign.They were chosen by the 3 hippagretes,each one chose 100 hippeis.It doesn't seem that all of the hippeis had to have male children. However Herodotus points that out,that each of the 300 Spartans who were chosen for Thermopylae had male children. So these must not have been the hippeis. Now,in every Spartan campaign one of the Kings was in charge of the army. The king was usually fighting in the center of the Spartan phalanx,not to the right. Just usually the Spartans were placed to the right end. In Mantineia for instance,to the right were the Tegeans and just to the right of the Tegeans a tiny unit of Spartans were placed.
In Thermopylae there was not a Spartans army a portion of which would make the king bodyguard. The whole Spartan force was 300 hoplites.
In my opinion the number 300 does not mean anything in particular. It must be noted that this is a very common number when any other city or army made a special force. They may have had a religious significance,or perhaps they thought that this was the correct number of hoplites in order to be sufficient to fight and few enough to move rapidly. Throughout the peloponnesian was and perhaps earlier we see the number 300 very often,not only as a permanent force but occasionally,and usually by the name "logades". In contrats to Stefanos,I don't believe the "logades" was a city's special force,not was consisted of permanent members. When they were needed,some volunteers of the army took an oath before acting(from which took their name), and were acting as a unit until they fulfilled theit particular task.
Khaire
Giannis

I have some points to add to all of that. I have a theory that the unit that fought would have amounted to 304 men including the king and hippagretes. It may well be that the term 300 is generalised rather than exact. In other words there were indeed 300 individual hippeis - usually picked from the younger age groups - but with their sub-commanders alongside them and the diarch as well - then perhaps the total unit strength was more than 300 (but only just). 304 or maybe a few more?

That might sound very pedantic - and perhaps it is - but I offer it up as a counter to the nonsensical statement made by Victor Davis Hanson (who should know better) that the Spartan king fought alongside 299* bodyguards!!! (* I suppose this would be true if one soldier was immediately killed). The king in his version being the 300th. I always took the king to be as well as the 300 - rather than part of it.

There are accounts of the Spartan king having only 100 chosen bodyguards. I have always taken that to be 100 men from each of the three Dorian subtribes within Sparta (and elsewhere). There are tantalising questions remaining though, one of which is given that there were two kings - before the Ephoral decision that only one would accompany an army in the field - was there 300 knights for each king - or did the hippeis surround both?

The argument whether the men accompanying Leonidas I to Themopylai were hippeis or not, is a moot one. Where does it say that hippeis is anything other than a term meaning knight/horseman (although no longer mounted)? Is there ever a clear reference to the fact that a hippeis HAS to be from the younger unmarried year groups? Surely that was just convention - the bravest, best, fittest etc. The king could orchestrate the picking of his own bodyguard (as he did in August 480BC) directly or via the hippagretai as he wished. It was his unit (outside of main army state control). I wonder whether the other king participated in this (although they often didn't get on)?

My view is that a chosen member of the 300 was a knight, regardless of age or marital status, regardless of unusual circumastances in his selection and so on. To be chosen was enough and off they went to defend their king.

There is also a reference to another unit of 300 (sometime in the 300'sBC I think although memory fails me) who were sent as a picked force to fight in Messenia. I seem to remember they were anihilated so presumably they weren't the crack troops that the hippeis were.

Fascinating stuff. I wish we knew the exact truth.