Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

These experienced and loyal katoikoi phalangites are the backbone of Seleucid power, especially in regions outside Syria and Mesopotamia. As active reserve, they are called upon for garrison duty as well as campaigns against the king’s enemies.

Description

"They were followed by twenty thousand Macedonians of whom ten thousand bore golden shields, five thousand brazen shields and the rest silver shields." (Polyb., 30.25.5)

"He was physically such a big, strong man that on one occasion when a wild bull intended for sacrifice by Alexander escaped from his ropes, Seleukos restrained him on his own, holding him just with his hands. For this reason, a pair of bull’s horns are added to the depiction of Seleukos on statues of him." (Appian, Syr. 57)

The Chalkaspides (bronze-shields) are phalangites, equipped with 6m (21ft) long sarissa pike and a 45cm pelte shield strapped to the arm, which had the effect of leaving both hands free to handle the pike. If the phalanx formation broke down, the small xiphos sword was used. In the 3rd century BC, the Chalkaspides would have worn a linothorax or even a breastplate armour, as well as probably adopting chainmail in later times. The Bronze Shields will most likely be your main phalanx units, as they are recruitable in most colonies across the empire.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Chalkaspides were one of the two reserve phalanx divisions of the Seleucids, numbering about 10,000 in total. They were men who had either completed their service or been transferred back to their allotments from the Argyraspides Royal Guard, or who had reached the age of 30 or 35 and were considered too old to serve in the elite infantry guard.

The katoikoi who comprised its manpower would in exchange for their service not just enjoy land allotments for life, but could also receive other privileges. This is, for example, illustrated by a treaty between Smyrna and Magnesia (OGIS 229), where all men who served in the phalanx “are to have citizenship (of Smyrna) and the same freedom from taxes [which] also the others have”.

As most of the Chalkaspides received training at the military training school at Apamea, Syria (Poyb. 16.2.10) when serving in one of the Royal Guard units, they were fiercely loyal to the dynasty. This could be seen in the refusal to fight of katoikoi phalangites that comprised the armies of Molon (Polyb. 5.54) and Achaios (Polyb. 5.57) when these were rebelling against Antiochos III. For this reason, we have included such typical Seleucid iconography as taurine imagery (horns, bull), anchors, portraits of Seleukos, Apollo (as the divine dynastic ancestor), and others in the designs of the unit.

We have two sources that directly mention phalangites with bronze shields: the description of the Daphne parade of Antiochos IV in Polybios, and the description of the battle of Beth-Zechariah in Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 12.9.4, and 1 Maccabees 6.39. These, however, are both describing events from the 2nd century BC, which only directly confirms these units’ existence in that era. Therefore, it is mostly speculation on historians’ part that the katoikoi phalangites of the 3rd century would have had the same appearance.