Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

Though hoplites are a dying breed, their good staying power makes them suitable for guarding flanks and holding the line.

Description

From its (first) foundation in the 5th century BC on, the army of the Achaian League was mainly made up of Hoplites. Though, or rather, because the Koinon never followed a policy of expansion, its men often served abroad. They appear in the famous mercenary army of Kyros the Younger (423-401 BC) and in Macedonian service under Philip II (382-336 BC) [English, Mercenaries 2012, p. 119; 122] and were still popular mercenaries, often together with their Arcadian neighbours, in the 3rd century BC (Ray, Landbattles 2020, p. 200). In the early 3rd century, the revived Achaian League formed a federal army of Thureophoroi, but it seems that the individual member cities kept their Hoplites. These may only have been replaced when Philopoimen of Megalopolis (253-183 BC) introduced the Macedonian phalanx to the Achaians in 207 BC (Plut. Philopoimen 9, 1-2), and the city troops may well have kept some men in traditional armour even after this point. Holding the line in a traditional phalanx formation, they were still a force to be reckoned with. The Hoplites were armed with a dory spear, linothorax armour, bronze helmets, greaves, and the iconic aspis shields. Most of these display the AX monogram, the symbol of the Achaian League.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Achaians were one of the four main tribes of the Greek mainland and situated in the northern Peloponnesos, although their true origins are still hotly debated. In 281/280 BC, the western Achaian poleis Tritaia, Dyme, Pharai and Patrai set up a new Achaian League (Polyb. II, 41). The new league was always threatened by Macedonian hegemony on the Peloponnese, and therefore did not hesitate when it saw a chance to liberate cities from what they perceived as the Macedonian yoke. Under the leadership of the competent Margos of Keryneia (ca. 310-229 BC), the Achaians expelled pro-Macedonian tyrants from Aigion, Bura, Karyneia, Lention, Aigeira, and Pellene during the 270s BC (Polyb. II, 41).

The final steps in the unification process of Achaia were the landing of Pyrrhos of Epeiros in the Peloponnese (272 BC) and the alliance of the league with Athens, Sparta, and the Ptolemaic Empire in the Chremonidean War (267-261 BC) against Antigonid Macedon (Ralf Urban: Quellenstudien zur Entwicklung des Bundes von 280 bis 222 v. Chr.). After this point, the Achaian League remained a major player in Greece until the Roman sack of Corinth in 146 BC.