Libyan Phalangites (AOR)
Spearmen Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
These Libyans are armed in the Macedonian way, at the same time as Egyptians were admitted into the phalanx.
Description
It is well known that Ptolemy IV recruited Egyptians into his phalanx to increase his manpower at the outbreak of the Fourth Syrian War. Less known is the Libyan contingent at the Battle of Raphia, which we only know about from Polybios (V, 65, 8): "They also armed in the Macedonian fashion three thousand Libyans under the command of Ammonios of Barke." Where these Libyans where from remains anyone's guess. Barke (today's Marj or el Merdj) was a Kyrenean sub colony on the Mediterranean seaboard of Libya, but Ammonios' men must not have necessarily come from that region. Polybios seems to imply that they had to be trained to fight in the Macedonian style, and it thus seems more likely to think of a non-Greek origin, most likely from the Marmaridae, who lived between the western border of Egypt and Cyrenaica. In any case the Libyans formed part of the Ptolemaic phalanx which defeated their Seleucid opponents in the centre of the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC and must thus be seen as a valuable addition.