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Short description

Following the Assyrian and Urartian tradition of heavy infantry, and influenced by the spread of the Greek hoplite, these troops serve as the core heavy infantry of Armenian monarchs.

Description

Following the Assyrian and Urartian tradition of heavy infantry, and influenced by the spread of the Greek hoplite, these troops serve as the core heavy infantry of Armenian monarchs. They are armed in the Greek fashion, wearing a Corinthian helmet, as well as a scale-lined Linothorax and a Dory spear. Although the main strength of Armenian armies is their cavalry, which is very effective in the ample valleys that cut across the mountain country, much like their Greek counterparts, these troops can be very effective at defending the many mountain passes that dot the landscape (with enough skirmishing support, of course).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The early Iron Age in the Caucasus was witness to the development of heavy infantry similar to that of contemporaneous Archaic Greek hoplites, with both the Hurrian Urartians (Bianili) of the Armenian highlands, and their eternal Assyrian rivals in the south fielding troops armed with round bronze shields in heavy panoply. The Urartian empire, constantly battered by Assyrian invasions, had to face a new foe in the invading Cimmerians and Scythians throughout the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Though they were able to maintain control of important centres such as Argishtikhinili and Rusakhinili, the empire was soon assimilated into the Median and Achaemenid empire, with one major rebellion fought against Darius I, and an Armenian, Arakha son of Haldita (Haldi being an Urartian deity) leading a revolt in Babylon soon after. The fate of the Hurrian-speaking Urartians is, to this day, still unknown. Similar to that of Akkadian in Mesopotamia (or Aramaic in Artaxiad Armenia), the language could by the Urartian period already have been existing only as a liturgical and administrative language, rather than a popular one. The satrapy of Armenia, governed by (very likely) non-native Iranian satraps (e.g. Darius III) would in turn develop, after the Alexandrian invasion of Asia, into the Orontid dynasty of Armenia, whose origins may have also been Iranian, but who soon developed a strong affinity for Armenia and its people.

Many (often votive) decorated round bronze shields of Urartian monarchs have been found across the former lands of the Urartian realm. Urartian shields were not identical to the Greek aspis, nor to the Assyrian domed shields, however. They are characterised by a single offset handle at the top, rather than the famous Argive grip of Greek aspidai. Though it is uncertain precisely what social classes these heavy Urartian infantrymen belonged to, it might be possible that they were elite troops or from the lower nobility, while poorer soldiers fought as lighter infantry. Later on, in the Achaemenid period, the strength of the Greek hoplite phalanx was demonstrated by the retreat of the 10,000 Greek mercenaries, led by Xenophon through Armenia. Although suffering constantly from Carduchian guerrilla tactics before reaching Armenia proper, they were able to remain a dangerous military force throughout their journey, supported in no small part by the flexible tactics of the Greek commanders, as well as the Cretan archers, Thracian peltasts, and other skirmishers that accompanied them. However, less heavy infantry seems to have been the fighting style adopted by most footmen levied in Armenia. Herodotus describes Armenian troops armed as light spearmen-javelineers for Xerxes' invasion force (Hdt. 7.72-73), though Xenophon describes heavier armed forces in the service of the Armenian king (Xen. Anab. 4.3.4, 4.7.15-16). However, one coin from an Arsames, king of Armenia, bears an insignia of what appears to be a soldier armed in hoplite garb (Nercessian AC 003; Bedoukian, ANSMN 28, 2). Many others, however, show a cavalryman besting what appear to be phalangites or hoplites head on, cementing the importance of cavalry in the Armenian military (see also Strab. 11.14.9).