ALEXANDER'S PHALANX COMMANDERS MEN YOU CAN TRUST

The phalanx is central to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Although the king usually accompanied the Hetairoi (Companion Cavalry) in his battles, it was the implacable threat of his phalanx of Pezhetairoi (Foot Companions) which enabled those victories – they were the reliable anvil to his cavalry’s hammer. The men who commanded the phalanx are the unsung heroes of Alexander’s battlefield success.

By Murray Dahm

At Gaugamela, we are told the taxeis were commanded and recruited kata ethne – "from the same region" (Arrian, 3.11.9– 10; Diodorus, 17.57.2). The command of the six taxeis of Alexander’s phalanx seems to have fallen to members of the aristocracy from the same region(s) in which the individual taxis was recruited. Perdiccas’s men, for instance, came from the region of Orestis and Lyncestis, Coenus from Elimiotis, and Polyperchon from the Stymphaeans. The exception is Amyntas, son of Andomenes, who may have been from a region whose taxis he did not command though he may have had family connections with another region. This regional basis was certainly the case for the lower officers within each taxis. The experience, loyalty, and reliability of the men who commanded Alexander’s phalanx can be seen…

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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVI.6

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