Hippeis, not Hippies

[Ghostmojo]

Paul Cartledge - not unfamiliar with the ancient sources himself, and considered by many to be one of the leading (if not THE leading) authorities on Sparta refers to Lysander's election to the elite Royal Bodyguard of the 300 Hippeis (Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta (Duckworth 1987) p29), and also to the primary function of the Hippeis being "to serve as the king's bodyguard in battle, somewhat in the manner of Alexander's Makedonian Hypaspists" (ibid p205).

This I think is the heart of the problem, and one that is pervasive in the study of Greek warfare. Were there no hypaspists we might be less quick to label the Hippeis a bodyguard. In my opinion many elements of hoplite warfare have been misinterpreted in the past because of the reliance on Hellenistic and later Roman sources. Cartledge in the above is merely propagating the error by presenting them a a guard in a way that suggests that this is in any way clear and settled.

Well maybe Paul - but Cartledge is in very good company. He and the other modern scholars I mentioned all cite Herodotos, Thoukydides and Xenophon in their own reference sources (along with Polybios, Strabo, Diodoros Siculus etc.). I'm also sure he would be aware of all of these controversial issues, apparent contradictions and vagueries. I do agree it is far from clear and settled though.

I'm coming to the conclusion (belief) that the king's bodyguard on the battlefield may well have been the Hippeis+. This would include Paul McD's Doryphoroi (100) x 3, plus the Hippagretai themselves, plus the Olympic victors, plus any Polemarchs serving as the king's battlefield messmates. This figure could equate to 320 or so - roughly translated/rounded down as the three hundred. Perhaps as I mentioned earlier the same was true of the Skiritai. Their number might have been rounded up or down to 600.

Perhaps I could turn this on its head and ask why wouldn't a Spartan king be granted the Hippeis as his bodyguard on campaign (even if occasionally as opposed to regularly) - given their honorific and other specialised roles? Perhaps their presence in the vicinity of the king at 1st Mantinea and again at Leuktra is evidential of this?

BTW - I emailed you about the Xanthippos subject matter 8) . I'm just never sure if they get through when they go direct via these forum page links.

Cheers

H