The "Fred thread": the Argead Macedonian Army

[Old Husker]

The often heated discussion regarding the true nature of hypaspists seems something unlikely to ever be resolved between true believers on any side of the issue, and certainly not through quoting from our far from complete and not always themselves well informed sources. One can argue with some support (not conclusive) that both the hypaspists and Silver Shields of Eumenes were hoplites or one can argue with some support (not conclusive) that these same troops were sarissa-bearing phalangites or one can even argue with some support that the hypaspists were hoplites (carrying on an old tradition with mostly fresh troops) while the Silver Shields were phalagites (a team culled from at least a few surviving 'old sweats' from Alexander's day, perhaps reconstituting an elite composite unit formed in India ["picked troops from each batallion of heavy infantry" - Arrian 5.20]) and heavily filled-out with new recruits (thus, the Silver Shield's failure to hold good discipline as a unit at Paraetacene, losing vital order in pursuit to suffer a counter-attack and ultimately cost Eumenes that engagement).

I think that we should accept that legitimate alternative interpretations of the hypaspists (and many another contentious subject) exist. That doesn't mean that we have to give them all equal weight in expressing our personal visions of what happened on an ancient Greek battlefield; there, we 'pays our money and takes our choice', citing our reasoning for preferring a particular interpretation (acknowledging others but without need to go into overt detail unless you really wish) and then moving forward with it full bore. The result is a rich variety of reconstructions from which readers can pick as the arguments (and their own backgrounds) sway them. Surprisingly, the overall reconstruction of a battle (keeping in line with our source information) will often be little effected by coming down on different sides such issues. Would Gabiene really be any different on either end of the hypaspist argument? The Silver Shields seem to have faired well early on, whether they were hoplites fighting hoplites, phalangites fighting hoplites, or phalangites fighting phalangites (I myself tend to prefer the latter at this time, but that's just me and both other variations seem to be at least possible) only to fall to cavalry attack in the end. Still, all that having been said, I do enjoy the discussions on each side and find them very educational toward deciding where I personally will 'pay my money and take my choice'. - Regards all, Fred