Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

These men are the best and the bravest our glorious city has to offer, the Kyrenaian Hypaspists.

Description

These men are the best and the bravest our glorious kingdom has to offer, the Kyrenaian Hypaspists. Heirs to Alexander’s famed infantry, their elite status is reflected by these men’s lavish equipment. On their heads, they wear colourful Phrygian, crested Chalcidian and Libyan helmets; gold decorated, metal reinforced composite cuirasses or linothorakes protect their bodies; and their Aspis shields are stunningly decorated with popular Kyrenaian motifs. This opulent equipment is completed by purple tunics, shining greaves, and traditional Hoplite spears. The regiment of Hypaspits is made up of the best soldiers of our kingdom, and can be trusted to hold out against almost any enemy unit imaginable on the battlefield!

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Magas of Kyrene (317-250 BC), stepson of Ptolemy I through the latter’s marriage with his mother Berenice, was an influential member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Around 300 BC, Ptolemy made him governor of Cyrenaica, intending to draw the city of Kyrene and its surroundings more firmly into the Ptolemaic sphere of influence. At first this was successful, but on Ptolemy’s death in 283 BC Magas did not continue to serve his half-brother, but instead proclaimed himself King of Kyrene. Magas’ invasion of Egypt in the 270s hint at the scale of his ambition. Even though he was ultimately unsuccessful, in RIS one might be able to help Magas to establish himself as head of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Alexandria! In reality, Magas arrived at a treaty with Ptolemy II ‘Philadelphos’, and continued to rule Kyrene in peace until his death (Clayman, Berenice II (2014), pp. 30-32).

When Alexander the Great passed away, his famed elite soldiers, the Hypaspists and Argyraspides, largely stayed in the East, where they would later become part of the Seleukid army, while some returned to their native Makedon to eventually fight for the Antigonids (Bar-Kochva, Seleucid Army (1976), pp. 58-67). The Ptolemies had to form a new regiment of the best of the best, which would surely be mimicked by Magas of Kyrene if he would have succeeded to conquer the rich Ptolemaic core territories in Egypt. In battle, heavy armoured but relatively mobile infantry like the Hypaspists (literally: ‘shield-bearers’) was crucial to protect the flanks of the large and unwieldy Hellenistic pike phalanx. In RIS, we have opted to represent the Kyrenaian Hypaspists as a variant on the Ptolemaic elite Agema infantry regiment.