The year is 359 BC and the Kingdom of Macedonia lies on the brink of destruction – its army
defeated and people in despair.
Yet all hope is not lost, as the new king - Philip - is keen to revert his kingdom’s
fortunes.
He would embark on one of the most revolutionary, all-encompassing military reforms in antiquity.
This new subseries will take an in-depth look at these reforms, starting with their origins
and the revolutionary changes Philip made to the infantry.
Our story first takes us outside of Macedonia.
Contrary to what one might have expected, Philip spent little time in his homeland during
his youth.
Due to the fragility of Macedonia, he spent most of his adolescence as a hostage - first
at the court of the Illyrians and then at Thebes.
It was while Philip was residing at Thebes, that his ideas of military reform started
forming.
In 371 BC, the balance of power between the mainland Greek cities would be shaken to its
core.
At Leuctra, the Thebans won a stunning victory against the Spartans, becoming the dominant
power on the Greek mainland.
The reason behind this unprecedented victory was the military innovations of Epaminondas
and Pelopidas.
Most notable among the Theban innovations were those that radically improved the Theban
infantry.
Not only had Epaminondas’ concentration of his Theban hoplite phalanx in deeper ranks
shattered the opposing Spartans, but the creation of an elite, professional infantry body - the
Sacred Band, provided Thebes with a force that proved equal to the famed Spartan warriors.
Thanks to these reforms, the military might of Sparta finally met its match.
Philip quickly concluded that the secret of Thebes’ newfound military supremacy lay
in the constant practice, constant experience and constant action of its army.
Its professionalism was its key!
At the same time, the reforms of the renowned Athenian general Iphicrates also greatly impressed
the young Macedonian.
Iphicrates reformed the equipment of the Athenian infantry: the heavier bronze hoplite armour
was replaced with lighter linen cuirasses and the large hoplon shield with a lighter
pelta, and new longer spears were used.
All this increased the reach of their weapons and provided the soldiers with increased mobility.
Although these reforms did not stand the test of time with the Athenian infantry, scholars
assume that this style of fighting was used by the hoplites fighting at sea, as the increased
spear-length and improved flexibility proved useful when attacking adjacent enemy vessels.
Military innovation was therefore a common theme among the mainland Greeks in the early
4th century BC and Philip was a quick learner.
In 365 BC, Philip returned to Macedonia.
He had learnt a lot from the reforms of Epaminondas, Pelopidas and Iphicrates as would soon become
evident.
The death of Philip’s elder brother Perdiccas, in a battle against the Illyrians in 359 BC
brought Philip an abrupt ascension to the Macedonian throne.
Macedonia was surrounded by enemies and had never been weaker; another invasion looked
imminent.
Having secured his throne from rival claimants, Philip set about reforming the Macedonian
army, putting into practice what he had learnt from his time as a hostage.
Arguably the army branch Philip revolutionised the most was the infantry.
Limited evidence survives, but it is likely that the foot soldiers that Philip inherited
were mostly light infantry, recruited from a peasant class that lived in poverty.
They were usually ill-equipped, had no training, and were no match for the superior infantry
of the neighbours, most notably the Illyrians.
It appears that the Macedonian infantry also included an elite unit, armed in the Greek
hoplite fashion.
However, these hoplites were few and were outclassed by their Illyrian counterparts.
The Macedonian infantry was in dire need of a change.
Remembering the Theban and Athenian reforms, Philip quickly recruited 4,000 Macedonian
levies and equipped them for a radically new style of fighting.
For their armour, Philip equipped his Macedonians with a blend of the heavy hoplite and the
lighter Greek peltast panoply.
Each soldier was fitted with a bronze helmet, greaves, tall boots and a cloth tunic.
Unlike the hoplites of their southern neighbours, these recruits were not outfitted in heavy
breastplates, and had much lighter body armour.
The lighter protection was compensated by the new weapon: the sarissa.
Their deadly new armament was a 4-6-metre-long pike.
Its shaft was made from cornel wood – the best available wood in the Greek world at
that time.
Macedonia was famed for such high-quality timber and Philip acquired significant supplies
of it to create his new weapon with ease.
At one end of the sarissa was an iron tip.
Its streamlined head was designed specially to penetrate armour and continue through into
the enemy’s body.
At the opposite end of the pike was a heavy metal butt.
Made of either iron or bronze, this butt was designed to act as a counterweight, offering
the wielder more balance when holding the sarissa 3/4s of the way down the shaft.
Its shape could also anchor the pike into the ground when bracing for an enemy charge.
Just as with the high-quality cornel wood, bronze and iron were also readily available
in Macedonia, providing Philip with easy accessibility to the materials required for making these
new, deadly offensive weapons.
Unlike the shorter xyston spears of the hoplites, the sheer length and weight of the sarissa
meant that each Macedonian soldier required both his hands to carry it.
Carrying a heavy shield as well was impossible.
Philip’s men were thus equipped with a smaller, light shield called a pelta.
The Pelta was commonly used by the Greek light infantry and by Iphicrates’ new-look Athenians
earlier in the 4th century.
It could be slung from the neck of the infantryman and strapped to his left arm.
These men were also equipped with a short spear and a slashing sword, but the pike was
the primary weapon.
The sarissa was next to useless in a one-on-one fight, so each man was intended to fight as
part of a larger, trained mass: the Macedonian phalanx.
Most of the surviving information of the structure of the phalanx comes from later sources that
describe the phalanx of the Hellenistic Period.
Yet there are a few facts we can deduce about the original Macedonian phalanx of Philip:
it consisted of basic units of ten men called a dekas, although this number was soon increased
to 16.
Multiple dekas units, or dekades, were then combined into larger groupings called lochoi,
with the separate dekades being deployed side by side.
The most experienced men in each dekas were placed nearer the front.
Early on the Macedonian phalanx was to be formed 16-men deep and 8-men across – the
men being in very close order thanks to the small size of their shields.
This basic tactical unit consisted of 128 men and was called a taxeis.
Each taxeis was commanded by an officer called a lochagos.
Two taxeis combined was called a syntagma.
Alongside the lochagos, there were also certain other specialised soldiers that were attached
to each taxeis.
There was - the salpingetes - who would relay messages with his bugle during the heat of
battle.
There was also a signalman - called the semeiphoros - who would give visual signals during the
march with his standard, as well as an army herald - a stratokerux - who would shout out
orders.
There was also an aide - a hyperetes - who was to convey messages between units and do
whatever the lochagos required, and finally a file closer - the ouragos - who would collect
any stragglers from the phalanx.
As each taxeis moved in their rectangular formation on the battlefield, every man would
carry their sarissa upright.
Only just before they were to engage their enemy would the first five ranks lower their
deadly pikes horizontally, creating a deadly wall of iron.
The lines just behind would lower their own pikes at a 45-degree angle to protect their
comrades from enemy projectiles while the rows further back would keep their sarissas
upright.
Thanks to the great length of the pike, four deadly sarissa heads could protrude ahead
of the first infantryman in the phalanx.
This gave Philip and his infantry a great advantage over their neighbours.
Not only could the sheer offensive power of multiple advancing sarissae steamroll any
opponent, but any opposing infantry force would struggle to get past the multiple rows
of pikes to even reach the holder, From the elite hoplite infantry of both the Illyrians
and the Greeks to the hardened warriors of Thrace and Paeonia, all would struggle to
combat Philip’s sarissa-wielding phalanx with their shorter spears.
Philip’s phalanx was virtually unstoppable from the front.
Its cohesiveness and the weight of its offensive armament was unmatched in the contemporary
world.
Yet this new formation was not without its flaws.
The key to the phalanx’ deadliness was its cohesiveness: if the formation was shattered
– whether it be from fighting on uneven ground or from being attacked on either the
side or rear – then the poor individual fighting skill of these soldiers would soon
be apparent.
The phalanx was deadly just for so long as its order was maintained.
And so, in 359 BC, Philip equipped and trained his 4,000 new Macedonian recruits in this
new, revolutionised system of warfare.
Continuously he would train them in a variety of manoeuvres to make sure they were ready
for war.
He ensured the phalanx formation had flexibility for example, training his men to either double
or halve the usual 16-man depth of the phalanx when necessary.
Furthermore, Philip also made his infantry march and run long distances with full equipment
so that they were always fit and ready for battle when on campaign.
The majority of Philip’s reformed infantrymen originated from the Macedonian levy of the
region – farmers, craftsmen and men from other citizen professions.
Yet among his new-look infantry, Philip also had an elite corps: the pezhetairoi or ‘foot
companions.’
These men were picked for their size and strength to serve as the distinguished infantry guard
of the King.
The pezhetairoi - who were the Macedonian equivalent of the famed Theban Sacred Band
- were Philip’s only full-time citizen soldiers, far out-classing the rest of his infantry.
Philip placed his elite pezhetairoi on the furthest right wing of the infantry line – the
most prestigious place in the line.
It was the pezhetairoi for example, that accompanied Philip II on his right during his first major
battle against the Illyrians in 357 BC.
We hear that Philip and his elite phalanx shattered the opposing Illyrians, who proved
no match for them.
For the first time in years, the Macedonian infantry outclassed its neighbours.
Scholars still debate the equipment of Philip’s pezhetairoi.
Some argue these men were armed as hoplites, wielding shorter spears, aspis shield and
heavy bronze armour, trained to add versatility to Philip’s sarissa-wielding infantry line.
Yet evidence for this is sparse and many now argue that Philip equipped his pezhetairoi
similarly to the rest of his reformed infantry.
It was their skill and expertise that singled these soldiers out, not their equipment.
Later, during the reign of Alexander, this elite force would undergo a significant change.
The entirety of his phalanx was now called the pezhetairoi, and a new name was given
to his elite infantry - one that would remain down through to the Hellenistic period: the
hypaspists.
Philip’s infantry reforms were the first great step in transforming his kingdom into
the dominant power in the Central Mediterranean.
Yet, it was only the beginning and in the upcoming videos we will discuss other aspects
of these reforms, so subscribe and press the alarm bell to get notified.
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