07-20-2010, 07:17 PM
I (and my fuzzy memory) stand corrected on the displays at the British museum being Assyrian rather than Babylonian, though I suspect that the Assyrian way of war was so dominant in its day that it did indeed color all later Middle Eastern systems including that of Babylon and Media/Persia. Indeed, Nick Sekunda explicitly made the Assyrian archer-pair to Persian sparabara connection in his piece in Hackett's Warfare in the Ancient World, p. 82), where he proposes that the Persians adjusted their ratio of shield-bearers to bowmen as needed to best match a given tactical situation. As for Herodotus' various references to shield walls/barricades, I believe that these are consistant with a barrier being held in place by hand. Frankly, a 'free-standing' row of propped spara would seem to make no sense at all once 'shock' fighting began. Given the hard data that Paul Bardunias has published on the great force applied by othismos from crowds, it seems clear that a shield wall not being actively held up by 'sparabara' would surely have fallen like a house of cards at its very first contact with Greek heavy infantry.
As for the Persian spear, it looks on displays from Susa (see the aforementioned Hackett text for a nice illustration of Arstibara or 'King's Spearbearers' on p. 83) to be slightly shorter than the Greek dory at perhaps 6-7 feet. Thus, it was almost certainly designed for use with one hand like the dory (of course, an unshielded man could have used two if desired, though undoubtedly a suicidal technique against a hoplite). Also, one of the Persian spear's most notable features is a round counter-weight opposite the 'business' end. These famously took the form of fruit cast from precious metals for the Immortals or Amrtaka, thus their nickname of 'apple-bearers'). While the equivalent Greek sauroter had potential as a back-up weapon in addition to its weight value, this Persian device seems to have been exclusively used to counter-balance the spear for a longer thrust, thus indicating that the spear was not primarily used as a missile.
As for the Persian spear, it looks on displays from Susa (see the aforementioned Hackett text for a nice illustration of Arstibara or 'King's Spearbearers' on p. 83) to be slightly shorter than the Greek dory at perhaps 6-7 feet. Thus, it was almost certainly designed for use with one hand like the dory (of course, an unshielded man could have used two if desired, though undoubtedly a suicidal technique against a hoplite). Also, one of the Persian spear's most notable features is a round counter-weight opposite the 'business' end. These famously took the form of fruit cast from precious metals for the Immortals or Amrtaka, thus their nickname of 'apple-bearers'). While the equivalent Greek sauroter had potential as a back-up weapon in addition to its weight value, this Persian device seems to have been exclusively used to counter-balance the spear for a longer thrust, thus indicating that the spear was not primarily used as a missile.
It\'s only by appreciating accurate accounts of real combat past and present that we can begin to approach the Greek hoplite\'s hard-won awareness of war\'s potential merits and ultimate limitations.
- Fred Eugene Ray (aka "Old Husker")
- Fred Eugene Ray (aka "Old Husker")
