04-19-2009, 06:36 AM
Quote: Why is 13,000 vs. 30,000 so hard to swallow when Gaugamela was 45,000 vs. 100,000?
Well, that is most likely due to the fact that I don't believe Darius mustered - much less managed to wield - the hyperbolic figures the Greco-Macedonian sources foist upon us. The listing of Darius' forces reads like Herodotus' famous list for the confrontation nearly 150 years previous. This list - the order of battle at Guagamela of the Persians - too came into Macedonian hands after the battle. Whilst there is no pressing reason to dismiss this there equally is no pressing reason to believe the descriptions related by Arrian are a faithful reproduction of that list. It reads - just like Herodotus - as a list of the King's peoples.
As I noted on the Guagamela numbers thread, I believe this muster was nearer to Diadochoi musters - near to that of The One-Eyed at his hight: some 80,000 or so. As to Porus' numbers, that's currently a work in progress...
Quote:EDIT: and not every Macedonian unit was engaged at Gaugamela either.
From memory - leaving aside the cavalry dispositions - Arrian lists (from the companion cavalry to the left) the royal hypaspists, the hypaspists and all six taxeis of the phalanx. Who are we missing?
Paralus|Michael Park
Ἐπὶ τοὺς πατέρας, ὦ κακαὶ κεφαλαί, τοὺς μετὰ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τὰ ὅλα κατειργασμένους
Wicked men, you are sinning against your fathers, who conquered the whole world under Philip and Alexander!
Academia.edu
Ἐπὶ τοὺς πατέρας, ὦ κακαὶ κεφαλαί, τοὺς μετὰ Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τὰ ὅλα κατειργασμένους
Wicked men, you are sinning against your fathers, who conquered the whole world under Philip and Alexander!
Academia.edu
