Hippeis, not Hippies

[Ghostmojo]

.....and the Myth ( of the Hippeis being specifically a Royal Bodyguard ) goes on....... :roll: :roll:

Indeed it does.

However, I do feel you are too quick to dismiss the opinions of modern-day historians of note (Cartledge, Kennell etc.) who arrive at this conclusion. They have read all the ancient sources and probably more besides. They have pored over the same sections of text that we have. Some of these guys have spent a lifetime researching and discussing such matters. Their academic backgrounds and university seats certainly impresses me. I think you would have to go a long way to meet somebody with quite the degree of expertise in Sparta that say Paul Cartledge has. So what is he missing?

Following on from this discussion, my own position has changed somewhat. I admit to having gone from initially being certain that they were a Royal Guard, to now feeling they were at least some of the time, and maybe periodically only in part (i.e. the one third ratio). The lack of recorded native Spartan records is indeed a problem. There's no getting around that. However, there is sufficient absence of universal certainty in what information has been presented to us down the ages, for speculation to continue and also for the view that the Hippeis fulfilled such a role (in some manner) to deserve some credence.

However, in some ways the numerical value is irrelevant. There certainly is curiosity about the prevalance of the 300 figure but it doesn't really help this discussion. If it were just appearing in use by Dorians we might be able to support the tri-tribal theory - but it appears with other Greeks too. I think the number was probably slightly in excess of that anyway. The 300 figure merely refering to the bulk of the troops, but not including leaders, officers etc. They are all perhaps in imitation of whoever was the first to utilise a unit of such size. It might relate back to the Battle of the Champions in that respect (and not just because of the Spartans, but also the Argives), with both participants setting a trend for others to follow ...