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Why the levies broke (Led Zepp, anyone?), would be a combination of factors, ...the example of their mounted betters being driven back 1)Haha, yes I am a big Zep fan too and I also immediately associate word's like "levies broke" with their songs. Another is "finding the bridge."...

Their military value on th efield is not that they can actually do anything against the Macedonians in combat but that the Macedonians still have to factor them into their plans regardless. 1)So it seems to me that the reason why every single one of these 60,000 infantry levies ran away from the Ma...

3) I would say , rather, that they had 'military value' for the reasons you outline. They were not equipped or trained for combat against the Macedonian army. Sorry, but I'm confused at the apparent contradiction between the first and second sentences. If they had military value, wasn't this becaus...

...the extra 375m could add 1,250 cavalry to the Persian total which we may as well round up to 20,000. This would not affect the numbers of unengaged Macedonians though as these troops are the ones that do not seem to have come to grips befor the Persians fled so 18,000 potentially unengaged Maceo...

The Persian levies did not fight but beyond the Agrianes, cavalry and hypaspists how many of Alexander's troops actually fought? The phalanx does not seem to have done much more than react to the chariots, do we knock 9,000 off Alexander's totals, nor did the allied hoplites engage; that's 15,000 d...

agesilaos wrote:Further we are guessing at numbers, it would be fair to say that the Macedonians were outnumbered (other than at Graneikos and possibly Hydaspes), but the opposition were out-classed.

Even though only 18,000 Persians fought against 47,000 Macedonians?

It is not usual to discount troops simply because they are useless, or rather not used sensibly; it is worth doing when computing the kill ratio I'm sorry but I seem to have lost you here. What do you mean by "it is worth doing when computing the kill ratio? Also, do you consider Arrian to be ...

There were about 3,000 Greeks the rest were levies, but don't forget they doubled as servants so they will have carried the fodder for the horses and fetched water not to mention literally 'levelling the playing field' for the chariots, once they were there Dareios had little choice but to arm them...

The whole Persian front line was cavalry; Macedonian numbers were 7,000 cavalryu and 40,000 foot (Arrian III 13); there were about 3,000 Greek mercenaries among the Persian foot but these do not seem to have come into combat. You read of 10,000 Immortals being present but this corps seems not to ha...

Well, I cannot agree with Jona on this one; I think he means that the infantry levies fled without a fight which would be right enough, but the cavalry in whom Dareios had placed his faith certainly fought and rather than the wings breaking, as per Diodoros, the left wing and centre broke but the P...

I received a reply from Jona Lendering about his opinion on the Persian troop strength at Issos. First I asked him "How many Persian troops fought at the battle of Issos and how many Macedonian troops fought there? I ask this because most scholars think Persians outnumbered the Macedonians, but...

The core of that army - the Persians and Medes for example - will have fought... Do you think this Persian core who did fight outnumbered the entire Macedonian/Greek troops or were they outnumbered? I suppose this "core" should not only include the Persians and Medes, but also others like...

On the flight/fight of the Achaemenid army, I think he's largely correct. There will have been those only too prepared to conceive the worst and to scarper at the first opportunity for the heavens predicted defeat if not disaster..... The core of that army will have fought while others prepared to ...

Well Hando, you asked just what was in Jona's book on Alexander about Gaugamela and that is it. It is a lift straight from the book. While it isn't the whole exposition it is the relevant section. I do not understand your claim that the Macedonians "'panicked' and instead of breaking camp for ...

Now if only we could get someone who speaks Dutch to read Lendering's "Alexander the Great" and see why he says the Persians were outnumbered at Issos and why they ran away without a fight at Gaugamela. Jona's view and exposition of the latter can be found here . Thank you Paralus, but I'...