Macedonian armour

[Nearco]

Alexander changed the coat of mail into a breast-plate: which was a protection to them, as long as they boldly faced the enemy: but if they fled, they exposed to the foe their naked backs.

Coat of mail? hock: did the phalangites use chainmail?? I thought it only appeared on greek context in some troops as thorakitai, later on the IInd century BC

[MeinPanzer]

Alexander changed the coat of mail into a breast-plate: which was a protection to them, as long as they boldly faced the enemy: but if they fled, they exposed to the foe their naked backs.

Coat of mail? hock: did the phalangites use chainmail?? I thought it only appeared on greek context in some troops as thorakitai, later on the IInd century BC

It's just an (unfortunately common) mistranslation of thorax; that should read "Alexander gave half-cuirasses (hemithorakia) to the soldiers instead of full cuirasses (thorakes).

[Paralus]

I always regarded this particular extract as the only allusion of a possible defeat of Alexander, but it is also interesting in terms of this discussion...

That's an intersting take. There are few - if any - situations in the source material that would fit the interpretation that this was a reaction to a defeat of sorts. The three that do come to mind are the siege of Miletus, the attempt to force the "Persian Gates" and the revolt of Thebes.

At the siege of Miletus, Diodorus (17.26.7) says that the Macedonians "recoiled before the thick fire of missiles" (not to mention Ephialtes and Thrasybulus), which would imply a retreat of some description, before the "older" men sallied forth to save the situation. At the Persian gates Arrian (3.18.2) makes light of the rude reverse suffered by his hero due to his seeming impetuosity:

When it was evident that it would be difficult to capture it on account of the rugged nature of the ground, and as many of his men were being wounded, the enemy assailing them with missiles from engines of war placed upon higher ground, which gave them an advantage over their assailants, he retreated to his camp.

Diodorus (17.68.2-3), again supplying rather more detail, more fully describes the rather parlous situation the Macedonian conqueror had led his army into.:

(The Persians)suddenly attacked him and rolled down from above huge boulders, which falling suddenly upon the massed ranks of the Macedonians killed many of them. Many of the enemy threw javelins down from the cliffs into the crowd, and did not miss their mark. Still others coming to close quarters flung stones at the Macedonians who pressed on. The Persians, who had a tremendous advantage because of the difficulty of the country, killed many and injured not a few. Alexander was quite helpless to avert the sufferings of his men and seeing that no one of the enemy was killed or even wounded, while of his own force many were slain and practically all the attacking force were disabled...

Clearly the tightly packed phalangites, forcing passage through the pass, have suffered severely. It would not suprise that numbers might have taken to fleeing here.

At Thebes Arrian describes (1.8.4) the soldiers of either Perdiccas' or Amyntas' brigades (or both) as fleeing:

The Thebans, having wheeled round, again advanced from that position with a shout, and put the Macedonians to flight. Eurybotas the Cretan, the captain of the archers, fell with about seventy of his men; but the rest fled to the Macedonian guard and the royal shield-bearing troops.

I can't, though, think of another instance unless it was smaller "companies" reported for turning from the enemy during the major encounters.

[Macedon]

True.. English translations are usually very problematic when having to do with equipment (words like coats of mail, targes, shields, spears, javelins etc are usually too generic to be of any help without the original text), this is why I gave the Greek text, which was clear and in my opinion makes linothorax a very distinct option (although lino-half-thorax would be a very interesting concept).

As for the allusion to a possible defeat of Alexander I meant in a pitched battle. Alexander is presumed undefeated not in any kind of engagement but in pitched battles only. This extract of Polyaenus is most possibly about such an occasion, since retreating from an assault against enemy strong-points is usually done without turning tail (In Thebes, which could apply as a possible candidate, the assaulting troops were mostly light and fell back into the lines of the heavy infantry in reserve, not a really unexpected outcome during such action for Alexander to react like that and command a change in the armor of the heavy infantry). So, this particular detail, about Alexander's army turning their backs on the enemy seems to point to a defeat in a pitched battle we have no account of.

For him to issue such an edict (otherwise unsupported but I hold Polyaenus as a very credible source), this retreat must have been massive and so I would be very reluctant to ascribe it to any of the above incidents. Yet, it is a very interesting extract, isn't it?

[Nearco]

Of course it is very interesting extract. It is usual to have these translation problems with texts, even in the Osprey books (Spanish versions) are serious mistakes with translation (and it is translated from english!). I think is something common when the translator is not used to militar or warfare terminology

[Paralus]

This extract of Polyaenus is most possibly about such an occasion, since retreating from an assault against enemy strong-points is usually done without turning tail (In Thebes, which could apply as a possible candidate, the assaulting troops were mostly light and fell back into the lines of the heavy infantry in reserve, not a really unexpected outcome during such action for Alexander to react like that and command a change in the armor of the heavy infantry).

It would be a neat job to have expunged from the entire corpus of source material such a defeat. It is more likely that it did not not happen. Either, then, we are dealing with a small number of troops or we are left with Thebes (I largely agree with your view of the others) for the latter appears the only instance where troops from the taxeis of the phalanx are described as actually having fled a confrontation and broken ranks. The "light" troops that are described as having fallen (some of the archers and their commander) are sent in as support by Alexander after the men of Perdiccas' and Amyntas' taxeis have made the assault. The troops fleeing to Alexander and his hypapsists and the royal hypapspists are those of Perdiccas and Amyntas - along with the lights sent by Alexander.

[Macedon]

I mostly agree... You are right in that the taxeis of Amyntas and Perdiccas made the assault, but it was still an attack against a fortified position (charax), which they breached. So, it was not a formed body of men fighting but an irregular (yet in dense bodies of men)engagement. Apart from that, the attack was made without Alexander's signal, so I guess this would make him more angry than the flight, which he must have anticipated as is evident by the way he arrayed his hypaspsits and phalnax (ordered before the flight of his men within the charax) to drive the pursuing Thebans away (and thus win the siege). Yet, it remains the best guess as to which engagement Polyaenus alludes to, should he not be writing about an unknown one (or just relating some rumor).

[Archelaos]

I think you put to much faith in Polyaenus. The most probable time of introduction of hemihorakes (if they really were introduced on a large scale) seems to be arrival of 25000 panoplies in 328. I think it is the "half" part in the name that became a source of a legend about it's introduction rather than any true event. What's more, in Philip V's time thorakes and hemithorakes were officer's gear not for rank and file, and I find it hard to believe that Alexander's troops wore heavier armour initially. This regulation would then hurt only the officers. Seem a bit strange.

In fact it is not even clear if they were really front only protection, or maybe T&Y with reinforced front - check for ex. Everson's Warfare in Ancient Greece.

[Komanos]

Considering officers formed the front rank of the phalanx (depending on how far down the ranks we're going to imagine his "hegemones" to go), it would serve its purpose fairly well. Even so, I've always been a little suspicious of that story.

[Macedon]

There are so many things we are not sure about and this extract of Polyaenus is not an exception. He unfortunately does not name the battle, where this retreat supposedly happened but anyways it is always worth considering as is his testimony about thorakes and hemithorakia being worn by many (maybe the front rankers, maybe the mass of the) Macedonians of the line. What is certain is that the heavy infantry were well armored since long before Alexander's crossing of the Hellespont.