04-15-2008, 06:27 PM
Diodorus in the two battles against Antigonus, Paraitacene and Gabiene, is very clear that in Eumenes army there are two different infantry units of about 3000 each ,the famouse the silver shields and the second group he calls hypaspists.There is much written about the silver shields and the general consensus is they are the same as the units refferd to under Philip and Alexander as hypaspists whoes name was changed when Alexander gave then silver armour before the indian invasion.Who then are these other hypaspists .As far as i know they are not refferd to again outside the battles and yet their position on the far right of the line at Paraitacene suggest they were even higher status than the silver shields as that was the position of honour.Does anybody know anything written about thse particular hypaspists .It is only these hypaspists i am interested in ,the silver shileds/Alexandrine hypaspists i know about as also later Hellenistic troops that are called the same .But if anybody has anything about the Eumenes hypaspist who fough alongside the silver shields i would appreciate it.Thanks looking forward to replies mike
