Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

9
The Argeads and the Phalanx
A. B. Bosworth
The Macedonian phalanx was the backbone of Alexander’s army. 1
As such, it received special attention, to ensure that it was effective
to the highest degree. What mattered most was its fl exibility. Tactics
changed with changing circumstances, as Alexander responded
to the many challenges, military and political, that he encountered.
Under his leadership the phalanx became more than a superb military
tool. It developed what might be seen as political involvement.
Intensely loyal to the monarchy, it was at the same time deeply conscious
of its traditional rights and could challenge the king himself.
The tension between autocratic king and politically conscious phalanx
culminated in a period of turmoil in the summer of 324. Then, at
the Assyrian city of Opis, Alexander faced down his men and threatened
to replace them with Iranian troops specially trained in Macedonian
techniques. He was able to assert his authority (in dramatic
fashion), and at the time of his death he was creating a new mixed
phalanx which combined Macedonian and Iranian troops, each with
their own national weapons. This was custom made for his projected
western expedition, and proof that he had decisively overridden the
regionalism that had been the curse of the Macedonian state from
time immemorial.
In this paper I examine the gradual transition of the phalanx from
a collection of highly trained regional levies to a blended unity and
focus on the military nomenclature, which refl ected the political development
of Macedonia. During the fourth century, the infantry
evolved from a heterogeneous rabble to an expert body of pikemen
schooled in the techniques of mass fi ghting. Simultaneously there
emerged strong ties of loyalty to the Argead house, which were symbolized
in their title of Foot Companions ( πεζέταιροι ).
Chiliarchs and Pentakosiarchs: The
Emergence of Mixed Commands
Alexander, of course, was not the fi rst to stamp his political will upon
the Macedonian infantry. Earlier in the century Philip II and Philip’s
91