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

THE ARGEADS AND THE PHALANX 95
meat. It looks too as though both cavalry and infantry received the
largesse. The lochoi were clearly the cavalry units that had been
established in S ittacene late in 331. 18 That means that the hekatostyes
were infantry units, and they were probably one hundred strong, in
paper strength at least. 19
There is a parallel passage earlier in Arrian’s narrative, 20 dealing
with the distribution of pack animals after the passage of the Gedrosian
desert, where there had been a huge wastage. 21 Alexander’s
satraps, Phrataphernes and Stasanor, joined forces with the main
army, and as they did so Alexander assigned them to the various army
divisions. 22 He made allocations to the commanders individually,
then to others by ilai and hekatostyes, and to others again by lochoi.
There are three categories of recipients. For Tarn (following Berve)
the lochoi were “the well-known infantry lochoi.” 23 That assumption
was fatal. It led him to the conclusion that the ilai and hekatostyes
were both cavalry units, the hekatostys being the regular term for the
cavalry lochos, which had come into existence in Sittacene. This will
not do. On Tarn’s interpretation Alexander allocated pack animals to
two cavalry units: the well-known cavalry ile and another that he
identifi es with the hekatostys. In other words a cavalryman might
receive shares in the column of baggage animals twice over —once as
a member of an ile and again by virtue of his belonging to a hekatostys.
Two bites at the cherry are surely excessive, and we must fi nd
a more acceptable solution.
In my opinion, the sentence should be interpreted as follows. First
we have the allocation to commanders. Then we move to the Macedonian
troops, both infantry ( hekatostyes) and cavalry ( ilai), and fi nally
to non-Macedonian forces ( lochoi). These non-Macedonians had been
heavily engaged in the fi ghting in Sind and experienced the hardships
of the Gedrosian desert. 24 They will have lost pack animals and
presumably had some claim to compensation. If so, they were given
replacement beasts, which were distributed to their individual companies.
Arrian gives them the generic title of lochoi, which he uses
elsewhere to refer to troops in an undifferentiated mass, including
non-Macedonians. 25 In contrast, the Macedonians are divided between
cavalry and infantry. The horsemen receive an allocation by ilai, the
standard unit of cavalry, whereas, it seems, the infantry were grouped
in hekatostyes. Interestingly, they seem to have had the lion’s share of
the distribution. The cavalry may already have had replacements
before the reinforcements arrived in Carmania. The troops had a rest
period in Pura (Arr. 6.27.1), and during that time any pack animals
discovered in the area would have been requisitioned. Consequently,
there was less of a need to supply them with more, and the new teams