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Short description

These Phalangites are made up of Pergamene citizens, wealthy inhabitants of the Kaikos valley and former Seleucid Phalangites. However, they all fight together for the glory of the Attalid kings!;

Description

Before the Peace of Apameia in 188 BC the military power of the Attalid kingdom was rather insignificant, with Eumenes II contributing a paltry 4000 men, mostly mercenaries, to the campaign against Antiochos III in Asia in 190 BC. This assessment led to the long-standing belief that there was no citizenry armed as Macedonian Phalangites in the Pergamene army before 188 BC. However, an inscription mentions what seems to be a permanent open-air military camp (to hypaithron) near Attalid Tralleis (SEG 46, 1434) already in the 3rd century and in the 270s BC Philteairos had 1000 bronze peltai - the shields of the phalangites - produced in a temporary workshop in Pergamon, of whom he gave 600 to his ally Kyme (SEG 50, 1195). The evidence thus hints at the existence of Pergamene Phalangites before 188 BC, even though their number may have been as small as 400 men and there is no guarantee they were a standing force.

The issue becomes much clearer after the agreement of Apameia, when Eumenes II received large parts of Western Asia as his reward for supporting the Romans. While the administration of this vast territory posed a number of challenges for the Attalids, their chief concern was to secure the loyalty of the military settlers (katoikoi) who lived in garrison towns and forts. Many of the former Seleucid soldiers did indeed swear allegiance to their new rulers, but just like those Pergamene phalangites that already existed (if they did) they seem to have been used mostly in defensive roles, to protect and control important passes and riverways and defend major settlements, not as the elite force of an attacking field army. This is not at all surprising: The Attalids did not embrace aggressive expansion in the same way the other successor kingdoms had done before them and spent much time consolidating their territory. However, when attacked, they would be able to quickly deploy a force of capable and loyal phalangites.

Trained either by Philetairos and his successors themselves or by the Seleucids, these Phalangites are capable warriors, masters of the Macedonian phalanx, the foremost formation of their day. They can hold the centre of a battle line or simply roll over less disciplined enemies.