10-24-2006, 08:37 PM
In response to two issues, Inaki's and Rich's:
The presence of noncombatants and soldiers not with the main field army needs to be considered, as just posted above. In Classical hoplite armies, each hoplite had a servant/slave to carry his panoply between battles; the minimum number of mouths is 2X the number of hoplites involved. Some of these other men may have fought as psiloi, but it is not certain that most or all of them did, and their importance in battle was not that great (as far as we can tell). Similarly, soldiers in garrisons, convoys, and scouting all had to be paid and fed, but may not be counted as part of a field army; cases have already been cited where the actual numbers in the main force is a fraction of the overall numbers involved. In some cases, like a chevauchee, the whole force is pretty much at hand, but any force which occupies territory (on offense or on defense) has some of its soldiers tied down away from the main force.
The presence of noncombatants and soldiers not with the main field army needs to be considered, as just posted above. In Classical hoplite armies, each hoplite had a servant/slave to carry his panoply between battles; the minimum number of mouths is 2X the number of hoplites involved. Some of these other men may have fought as psiloi, but it is not certain that most or all of them did, and their importance in battle was not that great (as far as we can tell). Similarly, soldiers in garrisons, convoys, and scouting all had to be paid and fed, but may not be counted as part of a field army; cases have already been cited where the actual numbers in the main force is a fraction of the overall numbers involved. In some cases, like a chevauchee, the whole force is pretty much at hand, but any force which occupies territory (on offense or on defense) has some of its soldiers tied down away from the main force.
Felix Wang
