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

SCYTHED CHARIOTS AT GAUGAMELA 107
in which case they would be helpless to defend themselves against
the troops opposite them. But, most important, it is entirely unnecessary,
since it would have been far more effective not to have created
an opening (or a number of openings) in the phalanx in the fi rst
place. 10
A similar description of events is found in Diodorus (17.58.2–5):
First the scythed chariots swung into action at full gallop and
created great alarm and terror among the Macedonians, especially
since Mazaeus in command of the cavalry made their attack
more frightening by supporting it with his dense squadrons
of horse. As the phalanx joined shields, however, all beat upon
their shields with their sarissas, as the king had commanded,
and a great din arose. As the horses shied off, most of the chariots
were turned about and bore hard with irresistible impact
against their own ranks. Others continued on against the
Macedonian lines, but as the soldiers opened wide gaps in their
ranks the chariots were channelled through these. In some instances
the horses were killed by javelin casts and in others they
rode through and escaped, but some of them, using the full force
of their momentum and applying their steel blades actively,
wrought death among the Macedonians in many and various
forms. Such was the keenness and the force of the scythes ingeniously
contrived to do harm that they severed the arms of
many, shields and all, and in no small number of cases they cut
through necks and sent heads tumbling to the ground with the
eyes still open and the expression of the countenance unchanged,
and in other cases they sliced through ribs with mortal gashes
and infl icted a quick death. 11
Diodorus’ account confi rms that the common primary source—
Cleitarchus or an intermediary—was describing action on the
Macedonian left, that is, the Persian right, where Mazaeus led the
charge against the forces under the command of Parmenion. 12 Hence,
whatever is going on in Diodorus and Curtius, it has nothing to do
with the action at the beginning of the battle described by Arrian
3.13.5–6. It is important to reiterate that we are not dealing with two
different d escriptions of the same event, but rather two different episodes
in the battle of Gaugamela. 13 The account given in the popular
Alexander tradition 14 actually helps to demonstrate the problems associated
with phalanx ( viz. sarissa) warfare, especially when phalangites
are confronted by charioteers.
Arrian speaks of an attack on the Macedonian right, intended to
disrupt the mobile troops who are moving toward the broken