The "Fred thread": the Argead Macedonian Army

[Old Husker]

Thanks much for the linguistic clarification! It is, indeed, likely that the 'foremost' troops under Eumenes were the Silver Shields (assuming, of course, that 'foremost' is being used to denote 'outstanding in ability' rather than those who just happened to be 'standing near the front' of the gathering). As such, it's quite reasonable that Plutarch's source(s) must have considered these men to be sarissa-bearing phalangites. Whether soldiers of this type were always so equipped, however, is very much in doubt. This is particularly the case with regard to the campaigns of Alexander and Philip II. Many have reasonably proposed that such elites were cross-trained with both dory and sarissa (as well as longache), employing whichever instrument would serve best in any given situation. I would propose that if facing sarissa-armed opposition, especially in the age of extremely long pikes being discussed here, then sarissai would most likely be employed. If going against barbarian or hoplite opponents susceptable to othismos, as had universally been the case under Philip II and Alexander, then a dory and aspis makes much more sense. Whether this was a matter of cross-training from the beginning or due to serial adoption of alternative gear to meet changing battlefield circumstances after Alexander, I really can't say at this point. Nonetheless, the concept of elite warriors fighting with different weapons at different times is worthy of consideration as it would go far to square some of the pro-hopllte language and other evidence we have ('contemporary displays of hoplite' hypaspists against Persians for example) with other passages more indicative of sarissaphoroi as you note above.