The 300 again (but this time armour etc.)

[Ghostmojo]

We have discussed the 300 Hippeis/Royal Bodyguard endlessly on this forum, but at the risk of boring some members senseless; I was wondering if one aspect of them might be developed a bit further.

That aspect is - did this particular special unit have any distinguishing dress or equipment, or would it have looked exactly like every other Spartan unit? I would like to think perhaps there was something a bit different about them given their prominent role surounding/protecting the King.

[hoplite14gr]

As in other thread I posted Isay that the 300 hippeis were the "unit on standby" not bodyguards.
They were selected by Hippagretae for their merit and excelence and that might implay that some presents in form of equipment would be used to improve their appearence.
Plutarch in his Symposiaka tells that those who were athletics champions (Olympia or Pythia) had the right to stand by the king.
If a member of the Aigiadae, Talthbiadae or Melampontidae was selected ,they had the right to stand in the stichos behind the king according to Pausanias.
Each hoplite would carry his mora Emblem. In formation they might be a microcraphy of the Laconic formation with the Spartas mora on the right and Skirits mora on the left.

Kind regards

[Ghostmojo]

Thanks as ever for your prompt and interesting response Stefanos.

Knowing the constant assertions over the years towards Spartan asceticism and minimalism may be more about a projected image rather than a real one, and that those views have become questioned in recent times - then perhaps the costume and equipment might well have been of an upgraded nature for the bodyguard on the battlefield? Perhaps they merely wore the olive wreath on their helmets?

I am intending to create a wargames army which features this unit, and I will be doing something to differentiate these figures. The period I intend to represent will be very roughly 400-300BC and therefore long after Leonidas I 's day. I might have them all with cloaks and/or crested helmets (allowing some theatrical element in the same way that Napoleonic troops often are represented in parade rather than campaign dress).

The other unit of interest to me is the Skiritai who according to K. T. Chrimes's Ancient Sparta wore an animal skin rather than armour (in a Herakles type manner) which will also add some interesting contrast to any battle-line. Hippeis at one end with the King and Skiritai at the other.

[hoplite14gr]

You boss will ask you to dispence with history for the shake of spectacle which increases sales.

The Spartan ascetism probaly started roughly from 668 B.C, culminating roughly by 500 B.C and becoming absolute by 460 B.C.

Up to 490 B.C. you can have them equiped like foot knights with armored right hand and thigh guards based on Olympia findings.
King and hipagretae might have traverse crests and file leaders tall crests. Probably only the royal parastatai would carry dokana on shileds and olive wriths on helmets.

Kind regards

[Ghostmojo]

Thanks Stefanos, although as I say the army I want to assemble is from a much later period (to fight Thebans, Persians, Makedonians and others in the 300s). Cheers

[hoplite14gr]

The original 300 after a series of wars had been reduced to 80 by the time in question.
Plus their uniform would not be distinctive except the royal paratstatai
Kind regards

[Phalanx300]

As in other thread I posted Isay that the 300 hippeis were the "unit on standby" not bodyguards.
They were selected by Hippagretae for their merit and excelence and that might implay that some presents in form of equipment would be used to improve their appearence.
Plutarch in his Symposiaka tells that those who were athletics champions (Olympia or Pythia) had the right to stand by the king.
If a member of the Aigiadae, Talthbiadae or Melampontidae was selected ,they had the right to stand in the stichos behind the king according to Pausanias.
Each hoplite would carry his mora Emblem. In formation they might be a microcraphy of the Laconic formation with the Spartas mora on the right and Skirits mora on the left.

Kind regards

Interesting, the Stichos were the men right behind the king right(the second to 8th rank)?

If the Athletic champions could stand besides the king then that could mean there were more then two next to the king?

So they were units on standby, would that mean that it was a constant unit that would be replenished by 2 every time(read something similar) or would the entire unit be reselected over and over again? The last one doesn't seem likely since they should have been at a constant 300 if that were the case.

Now the Hippeis would always fight besides the king but the royal paratstatai (2 or more men?) as well. Would that mean that the royal paratstatai fights right next to the king to his right and left and the Hippeis behind and next to the royal paratstatai?

Also, I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq3OzJXgvY8&NR=1

He mentions a Spartan training where youths would be told to push down a small tree, I read the same in Gates of Fire but always thought it was fake?

He also mentions a Spartan way to put the wounded front liners to the back of the formation, this would seem vital to me to save the king an other high ranking officers who often fought in the front rank, is there any proof for that?

Sorry for these questions but the Spartan Hippeis force and the royal paratstatai are hard to keep apart and its very confusing, and seeing this video it popped up some more questions.

[Ghostmojo]

The original 300 after a series of wars had been reduced to 80 by the time in question.
Plus their uniform would not be distinctive except the royal paratstatai
Kind regards

Interesting. Where does the figure of 80 come from? It is an odd number. One might have expected 50 or 100 etc.

Can you be sure the Hippeis/bodyguard uniform would not vary at all, at any given period of Spartan military history? Were they still around when Kleomenes II made his attempt at a big revivalist comeback I wonder?

[hoplite14gr]

Clarifications.

80 comes from Plutarch "life of Agesilaos"

The Skiirtai were not wearing armor when executing "commando style" operations.

The Spartans were the first to devide their army in "regiments" (Morae)

The right to left (right being the most honorable place) was mostlikely given to unit accoerding to its seniority

Mora of Sparta would hold the right most position. The king would be amongst them.
Based on Plutarch and Pausanias: the king would have two parastatae. (Olympic chmapions-bodyguards)
The seven hoplites behind the king (royal Stichos) would come from the Aegidae clan (Family with royalty claims)
The herald of the Talthyviadae who would also act as trumpeteer would -most brobably- be on the right most stichos in the middle
Probably the sheer of the Melambodidae would if young enough to fight would be too in the royal stichos.

When not in formation the ging would be accompanied by his bodyguards, the trympeteer and the sheer-soothsayer. A helot carrying the royal shield woudld be somewhere standby.


An example of the 300 immediate substitution is when Leonidae order those without sons out of the line and substitute them with those who had offspring. That means that probably more than 300 men werte selected with those over 300 waiting thier summons if necessary.
Kind regards

[Phalanx300]

Thanks for the answers! That sure clears things up.

But about the Olympic winners, did all Olympic winners wear olive wreaths or only the Olympic Bodyguards of the king.

So the king would fight with the Mora of Sparta and not with the Hippeis? Or was his stationed with the Hippeis in the Mora of Sparta?

[Ghostmojo]

Oh well, I don't actually recall the mention of '80' anywhere Stefanos, but I do remember the 50 volunteers (quoting Plutarch):

"... Then the Lacedaemonians at home, wishing to do him ([size=85:n23ttwbe]Agesilaos[/size]) honour, made proclamation that any young man who wished might enlist in aid of the king. All enlisted eagerly, and the magistrates chose out the most mature and vigorous of them to the number of fifty, and sent them off.

Agesilaos now marched through the pass of Thermopylae, traversed Phocis, which was friendly to Sparta, entered Boeotia, and encamped near Chaeroneia. Here a partial eclipse of the sun occurred, and at the same time news came to him of the death of Peisander, who was defeated in a naval battle off Cnidus by Pharnabazus and Conon. Agesilaos was naturally much distressed at these tidings, both because of the man thus lost, and of the city which had lost him; but nevertheless, that his soldiers might not be visited with dejection and fear as they were going into battle, he ordered the messengers from the sea to reverse their tidings and say that the Spartans were victorious in the naval battle. He himself also came forth publicly with a garland on his head, offered sacrifices for glad tidings, and sent portions of the sacrificial victims to his friends.

After advancing as far as Coroneia and coming within sight of the enemy, he drew up his army in battle array, giving the left wing to the Orchomenians, while he himself led forward the right. On the other side, the Thebans held the right wing themselves, and the Argives the left. Xenophon says that this battle was unlike any ever fought, and he was present himself and fought on the side of Agesilaos, having crossed over with him from Asia. The first impact, it is true, did not meet with much resistance, nor was it long contested, but the Thebans speedily routed the Orchomenians, as Agesilaos did the Argives. Both parties, however, on hearing that their left wings were overwhelmed and in flight, turned back. Then, although the victory might have been his without peril if he had been willing to refrain from attacking the Thebans in front and to smite them in the rear after they had passed by, Agesilaos was carried away by passion and the ardour of battle and advanced directly upon them, wishing to bear them down by sheer force. But they received him with a vigour that matched his own, and a battle ensued which was fierce at all points in the line, but fiercest where the king himself stood surrounded by his fifty volunteers, whose opportune and emulous valour seems to have saved his life. For they fought with the utmost fury and exposed their lives in his behalf, and though they were not able to keep him from being wounded, but many blows of spears and swords pierced his armour and reached his person, they did succeed in dragging him off alive, and standing in close array in front of him, they slew many foes, while many of their own number fell ..."

However, it is true there doesn't seem to be any direct mention of the 300 - the Hippeis - or any established bodyguard on that occasion (other than these 50 volunteers).

I don't want to get into a discussion about Morai or Lochoi etc. in this thread and am well aware of the reorganisation, development and subdivision of Spartan armies as time passed by. It is a real pity that Lazenby's book isn't easily accesable to all, however, I did get it once on loan from a public library, and would advise others to do likewise.

[hoplite14gr]

Stand correted on 80. They were 50. That was all that was left of the once proud unit.
The time period that Howrd is examining sees the deterioation of the Saprtan Army.

The Mora of Pylos was wiped out in Sfacteria and that of Amyklae at Lecheo.
Manpower is serious issue and "Neodamodeis" step in to fill the gaps[list=][/list]
The Lambda becomes universal except the king and his parastatae.
The army was requiped with the persian money that Lysandros and Adalkidas had intriduced
Troops dispenced with armor when they could not afford it and start to up-armor when they got the money.

There is a pilos helemt in the Berlin Antikesammenung with engrave olive wraiths.
An australian company made a reconstruction.
Not clear about olive wraiths. I am inclined in metal decoration on helmet and Diodoros said Milo fo Crotn wore them in battle.
In re-enacting they were not fould to be any hindrance.

Kind regards

[Phalanx300]

If its true that the Hippeis could be replenished or fully exchanged then its weird that they dropped from 300 to 50?

[Paralus]

Stand correted on 80. They were 50. That was all that was left of the once proud unit.

That might well be correct, though to base it on this one attestation might be going too far. As already noted these were volunteers. Just why that is so we are not told. Agesilaos is leading an army back from Asia that was composed – for the great part – of neodamodeis, allies and the remnants of Xenophon’s mercenaries. When he departed Greece Sparta provided Agesilaos with “thirty homoioi” (Hell. 3.4.2). He may thus have not had any “guard” as such and this may simply be what it was described as: “doing him honour”.

It’s often assumed that the “300 hippies” were at Leuktra but it is – to my memory – nowhere stated as such and, although “the royal bodyguard, the so-called aides of the polemarch” are mentioned, no numbers are given. Xenophon records (Hell. 6.4.15, 17) that there were 700 homoioi and these represented those up to the age of 35 from four mora. The rest are mobilised (up to the age of 59) after the disaster. One needs to go to Plutarch’s Pelopidas (20.1) to find out that the Spartan army numbered some 10,000 hoplites and 2,000 cavalry.

Indeed Xenophon would lead one to believe that this was the same army that the Spartans sent into Phokis in 375 (6.1.1) – he nowhere recounts its recall. That a Spartan army – abroad in central Greece – continued on its way after the renewal of the “King’s Peace” in 375/4 is incongruous. Once the cities were to be “free” and the “garrisons recalled” it goes without saying that such a force will have been recalled home. If not, it will surely have contravened the “common peace” and one wonders just what it was doing for over three years.

The army was requiped with the persian money that Lysandros and Adalkidas had intriduced
Troops dispenced with armor when they could not afford it and start to up-armor when they got the money.

The Spartan alliance with Persia, contracted by the hard heads in the last decade of the Peloponnesian War, provided money – that was its aim. That money was, though, to supply a fleet and its sailors so as to defeat Athens where it mattered: on the sea. Whilst it is possible that some money was funnelled elsewhere, I don’t recall it attested. Most Persian aid seems to have come in the form of ships and the money for them

In fact it was Persia that directed it elsewhere. In the 390s, with Sparta flying panhellenic flags of convenience in Asia Minor, Persia diverted that money to Athens via Conon - again in the form of ships. The result was the Spartan disaster at Cnydus and the accommodating Antalcidas resuming negotiations to return Sparta to its proper place in the relationship: Persian strong man in Greece not Asia Minor or the eastern Aegean.

The result of Antalcidas’ negotiations with the Great King – something that, for obvious reasons, did not garner Xenophon’s one-eyed attention – was the “King’s Peace”. And it is aptly named. It may well be that Sparta used Persian Darics for arms though it is more likely she used it to finance naval operations against an empire-dreaming Athens. This was Persian policy in any case: when one got ahead of the other Persian would support the lesser. Thus Sparta had her fleet restored and, following the death of the empire building Thrasybulus, Athens was forced into compliance

[Ghostmojo]

I think there was an obvious change in Spartan policy following the Peloponnesian War. Sparta suddenly had an empire and commitments abroad whether she liked it or not. Traditionally, they did not like venturing very far from their southern Greek peninsula, and taking full-scale Lakedaimonian armies into Asia Minor would have been resisted. The resulting strategy seemed to revolve around confederate armies of adventurers, mercenaries and some state troops - led by a Spartan king or general (and staff). In such instances I suppose all the usual bets were off, and the composition of these armies - certainly the Lakedaimonian component - would vary according to circumstance.

I'm guessing now, but because Agesilaos's armies tended towards these amalgamous forces, the usual call-up routines (age-groups etc.) were long since dispensed with and actual Spartan troops (be they any variant of Spartiate citizen) would be limited with liberated troops instead wherever possible. These latter soldiers would be Neodamodeis of whom considerable numbers were created. Brasidas and Derkylidas had proved their worth. In Asia he also had several thousand Peloponnesian League troops as he anticipated Philip and Alexander's desire for the great Greek aim of a war or revenge on Persia. His home city was interested in success, but not at the expense of its own dwindling manpower. Wars on homeland soil of course would be different.

Regarding Kleombrotos and Leuktra, Paul Cartledge summises/suggests that the 300 Hippeis were indeed present and fell to a man around their King. Their number was usually considered outside the usual Morai structure/organisation and therefore makes analysing the figures difficult. Did the 400 Spartiates (of 700 present) killed at Leuktra include all the 300 (assuming they were present)?