The "Fred thread": the Argead Macedonian Army

[Paullus Scipio]

Alright, here we go with a ‘foundation’ hopefully, on which to build a discussion, firstly of the Argead Army Reformation, completed, if perhaps not started, by Philip II and its subsequent evolution under Aexander III the Great/’Megas’.

Of necessity, it will be fairly brief and lacking in detail.
The first point to note is that ‘Macedonia’, in archaic and Classical times, consisted of mountainous valleys in the west (highland Macedonia) occupied by a largely pastoral people. Because of this geography, they tended to be largely independent, under their own ‘Kings’. Eastern Macedonia (lower Macedonia) consisted of broad flood plains, large and rich in natural resources such as timber and minerals; large that is by Greek standards. This made it a target of colonisation to the more urbanised, covetous Greeks of the south.
The Macedonian forces will have been ‘tribal’ like their Thracian, Paeonian and Illyrian neighbours. The bulk of them amateur warriors levied when needed ( and that was often! ), and armed with the traditional pair of‘longche’/hunting spears and a light skin/leather covered wicker ‘pelta’. Few would possess helmets or swords, and those who did tended to be in richer lower Macedonia, with its trade with southern Greece. (a fairly large number of graves in lower Macedonia have been excavated, and Illyrian helmets and other weapons recovered). Added to these were cavalry, formed from the ‘Kings’ and their aristocratic retinue. These likely were able to afford ‘panoplia’, and again their main weapons seem to have been two’longche’. At this time the ‘Kings’ and their retinue are likely to have been a mix of armoured (heavy) and unarmoured(light) cavalry.
We first hear of Macedon in our first Greek Historian, Herodotus, who describes how Amyntas, their lowland King, submitted to Darius after the devastation of neighbouring Paeonia, and his successor Alexander, submitted to Xerxes ( very wise of him!) but actively co-operated with the southern Greeks, being his only hope of getting rid of Persian suzerainty. (The valleys of upper Macedonia tended to be independent at this time). Herodotus does not tell us anything about Macedonia’s military capacities. We first hear of Macedonian troops in Thucydides, when Macedonia was coveted, and colonised by Athens and became a ‘fringe player’ in the wars between Sparta and Athens.They acted as auxiliaries to the armies of Sparta, Athens and Corinth that used lower Macedonia as a battleground. Thucydides reports the infantry, who don’t ever seem to have numbered more than a couple of thousand ‘tribal peltasts’, as being rather poor around the 420’s BC. The several hundred cavalry seem to have been better quality, described By Thucydides (II.100) as “excellent horsemen and armed with breastplates”, when defending against a Thracian invasion by Sitalkes. (429/428 BC).
The highland Macedonians seem to have been tougher, and challenged Brasidas’ Spartan (but not ‘Homioi’) army for instance. We now hear of ‘Hoplite’ heavy infantry in Macedonian armies for the first time, Perdiccas, the lowland King, allied to Brasidas, bringing ‘Hoplites’ raised among Greeks living in Macedonia from the coastal cities, against the upper Macedonian Lynkestians, who also fielded ‘Hoplites’ – probably mercenaries, and fewer, in 423 BC. ( Thuc. IV.124). Chalkidian allies also provided ‘Hoplites’ – 800 against Olynthus. This then is the rather motley Macedonian army prior to the ‘Age of Philip’.
The first reformations seem to have been those of King Archelaos some time before 400 BC, who “built straight roads throughout the country, re-organised the cavalry, the arming of the infantry, and equipment in general, so as to put the country in a stronger position for war than it had ever been.”
Macedon was becoming stronger and wealthier, and was expanding. We are not told exactly what these reforms are, but the issue of state arms for the first time is implied – ‘panoplia’ of helmets and perhaps body armour and greaves too. Since later, Philip is not credited with the Macedonian ‘pelta’ – wooden, bronze-faced and 24-30 (60-70 cm) inches in diameter, and hence suitable for hand-to-hand combat, perhaps this was introduced at this time too. The cavalry reforms probably involved them being made a permanent, regular force for the first time- and perhaps the name ‘Hetairoi’ appeared now. Thucydides does not refer to re-arming the cavalry, but the 12 ft (3.6 m) ‘xyston’/cavalry lance may have been introduced – again not something explicitly credited to Philip, whose reforms seem to have been the introduction of the ‘sarissa’ ( likely a Thracian weapon, and unlikely to be anything to do with Iphicrates, contra Fred’s earlier post), and the organisation, drilling, the introduction of the Macedonian version of ‘synaspismos’/ locked shields, and general discipline of the Makedones after their disastrous defeat, with 4,000 casualties and the death of Philip’s brother Perdikkas II, by the Illyrians under King Bardylis( Diodorus XVI.1.)

This then was the Army inherited by Philip, at a crucial time when Macedonia’s very existence was at stake. We can now consider in detail the Argead Macedonian Army under Philip.