11-10-2009, 11:23 PM
There isn't really any direct evidence that they served as a royal guard.
The case is usually made indirectly. We know that the Spartan Kings did have a royal guard of some sort (100 "select men" according to Herodotus 5.56, who may be speaking of the early fifth century; a guard of the "most renowned" according to Isocrates Philip 1.6; and Dionysius much later on, I think, actually says "300 of the best" or something like that), and when we see the Hippeis in action they tend to be fighting around the king, so it's usual to assume that the hippeis in whole or in part constituted the guard.
The case is usually made indirectly. We know that the Spartan Kings did have a royal guard of some sort (100 "select men" according to Herodotus 5.56, who may be speaking of the early fifth century; a guard of the "most renowned" according to Isocrates Philip 1.6; and Dionysius much later on, I think, actually says "300 of the best" or something like that), and when we see the Hippeis in action they tend to be fighting around the king, so it's usual to assume that the hippeis in whole or in part constituted the guard.
