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Short description

Equipped after the Macedonian role model, these phalangites are well armoured and made up of some of the finest men of the Peloponnese.

Description

Equipped after the Macedonian role model, the Achaian phalangites are well-armoured and made up of some of the finest men of the Peloponnese. Armed with sarissa, machaira swords, helmets, bronze Peltai, breastplates, and greaves; they are the new core of the Achaian infantry.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The army of the Achaian League was, for most of the 3rd century, dominated by light troops, backed up by the citizen Hoplites of the member poleis. That this army could sustain the rapid expansion of the Koinon in the period from 280 to the early 220s BC may come as a surprise. In fact, the Achaians profited from internal disorder on the Peloponnese, the ongoing decline of the number of Homoioi at Sparta and the unlucky and short reign of Demetrios II Aitolikos of Macedon (r. 239-229 BC). It took advantage of these weaknesses of its rivals not by military force, but through quick raids, ruses, diplomacy and bribery. The constitution of the Achaian League and its readiness to offer the leadership of the confederation even to those cities who had only just joined was remarkable. Polybios of Megalopolis (ca. 200-118 BC), once cavalry commander (hipparchos) of the Koinon and certainly its most prominent historian, says the following from his perspective in the late 140s BC:

“In the first place it is of some service to learn how and by what means all the Peloponnesians came to be called Achaians. 2 For the people whose original and ancestral name this was are distinguished neither by the extent of their territory, nor by the number of their cities, nor by exceptional wealth or the exceptional valour of their citizens. 3 Both the Arkadian and Lakonian nations far exceed them, indeed, in population and the size of their countries, and certainly neither of the two could ever bring themselves to yield to any Greek people the palm for military valour. 4 How is it, then, that both these two peoples and the rest of the Peloponnesians have consented to change not only their political institutions for those of the Achaians, but even their name? 5 It is evident that we should not say it is the result of chance, for that is a poor explanation. We must rather seek for a cause, for every event whether probable or improbable must have some cause. The cause here, I believe to be more or less the following. 6 One could not find a political system and principle so favourable to equality and freedom of speech, in a word so sincerely democratic, as that of the Achaian league. 7 Owing to this, while some of the Peloponnesians chose to join it of their own free will, it won many others by persuasion and argument, and those whom it forced to adhere to it when the occasion presented itself, suddenly underwent a change and became quite reconciled to their position. 8 For by reserving no special privileges for original members, and putting all new adherents exactly on the same footing, it soon attained the aim it had set itself, being aided by two very power

Polybios was obviously not neutral. Not only was he born in Arcadian Megalopolis, which was then a member of the Achaian League, his father Lykortas had been strategos of the Koinon, he himself had served as hipparchos and, after the Roman conquest, seems to have been a commissioner of the Peloponnese for Rome (Polyb. XXXIX, 5). Yet, there is no doubt that the Achaians did indeed convince many cities to join their League without the use of military force, and that many Peloponnesians would have shared Polybios’ views.

In the early 220s, however, the Achaians suddenly faced a new, powerful foe: Kleomenes III of Sparta (ca. 254-219 BC) had centralised the Lakedaimonian state, enfranchised many Perioikoi and Helots, and begun training them as Macedonian phalangites. The lightly armed Thureophoroi, Peltasts and Slingers of the Achaian League and their poorly trained cavalry were no match for the rejuvenated Spartans, who soon emerged as an existential threat to the Achaian Koinon (Cartledge/Spawforth, Hellenistic Sparta 1992, pp. 49 seq.). The federal council was so desperate that they turned to their ultima ratio: asking their arch-enemy, the Antigonids of Macedon, for help. Antigonos III Doson (ca. 261-221 BC) demanded no less than the surrender of Corinth, the greatest price of the Achaians. Yet, the council agreed: it could see no alternative (Gruen, Achaean Alliance with Macedon 1972).

In the course of what was to become known as the Kleomenean War (229/229-222 BC), Antigonos Doson equipped one regiment of his new allies, 1,000 men of Megalopolis, with the bronze shields and sarissa pikes of his Chalkaspides (Polyb. II, 65, 3; 69, 4-5). In 217 BC, after a defeat against the Aitolians, the federal assembly of the Achaians followed the advice of their leader, Aratos of Sikyon (271-213 BC), and decreed to keep 500 of these men permanently under arms (Polyb. V, 91, 6). This proved to be insufficient: Aratos’ successor Philopoimen of Megalopolis (253-182 BC) undertook further reforms, and replaced most of the league’s Thureophoroi with phalangites:

“In the first place, however, he changed the faulty practice of the Achaians in drawing up and arming their soldiers. For they used bucklers (Thureoi) which were easily carried because they were so light, and yet were too narrow to protect the body; and spears which were much shorter than the Macedonian pike. For this reason they were effective in fighting at a long distance, because they were so lightly armed, but when they came to close quarters with the enemy they were at a disadvantage. [...] Philopoimen showed them all this, and persuaded them to adopt long pike (sarissa) and heavy shield (aspis) instead of spear (dory) and buckler (thureos), to protect their bodies with helmets and breastplates and greaves, and to practise stationary and steadfast fighting instead of the nimble movements of Peltasts” (Plut. Life of Philopoimen, 9, 1-2).

Plutarch of Chaironeia (45-125 AD) probably based his description on a lost part of Polybios’ work and his lack of military knowledge shows: he calls the shield of the phalangite Aspis, which was the shield of the Hoplite. Though the pikeman’s shield was also round, it was called Pelte, just like the completely different shield of the classical skirmisher Peltasts, hence the term Peltasts was used for elite troops who could (also) fight as phalangites in the Hellenistic period (to be fair, he may also be using Aspis as a generic term for ‘shield’). In any case, it was clearly at this point, in 207 BC, that the Achaians equipped a large part of the federate forces with sarissa, machaira swords, helmets, bronze Peltai, breastplates and greaves. Polybios (XXII, 9, 3; XIII, 16, 10) simply calls these new troops Peltasts – but since we already have the skirmisher unit under the name Achaian Peltasts, we simply call this unit Achaian Phalangites to spare our players the confusion. In 189 BC, the regiment may have been increased in size or at least re-equipped, since Polybios (XXII, 9, 3) reports that Achaia’s ally, the Ptolemaic kingdom, sent them 6,000 Bronze Peltai that year. The notice also confirms that their shields must still have been very similar to those of the Antigonid Chalkaspides.

At the Battle of Magnesia (190/189 BC), Achaian caetrati (in the words of Livy) appear in the Attalid army (Liv. XXXVII, 39, 9). If these men were Polybios’ Peltasts and thus phalangites, however, is doubtful. They were intermixed with the Pergamene “auxiliaries” and William A. McDevitte, the 19th century translator of Livy’s Ab urbe condita, chose to translate the term with ‘targeteers’. Hence, they may simply have been Peltasts in the old sense, who must surely have been retained in some form – no army consisted solely of phalangites. At any rate, the newly armed Achaian phalangites made the federate army a formidable force after 207 BC and it won the majority of its battles in the following years, mainly against the Spartans. This is a powerful unit on the battlefield, which will doubtlessly transform your recruitment and fighting style when playing the Achaian League, the best faction of them all.