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Hans Delbruck suggested quite emphatically that the Persian army at Issos could not have ‘been larger than some 25,000 men’, even a cursory reading of his treatment of this battle reveals a haze of mis-conception and confused reasoning. The factors which bring him to the conclusion about Persian nu...

Thanks for your explanation and for your patience Agesilaos.

A) they would arrive fifteen hours after crossing the Amanic Gate so if they crossed at midnight they would start arriving at three pm, the battle started about five thirty pm; about 8,000 would come in each hour. Any that arrived did not resist but fl the Greeks and Kardakoi broke. Thanks Agesilao...

Thanks. I'm going to tackle that thread as suggested. As one should. Asklepiodotos is here . Aelian, apart from an old Google books link, is not online. Xenophon kindly passed on Devine's translation to me, the relevant parts of which are below... Aelian, 11.5-6: “Compacting” (pyknosis) is used whe...

And at Issos, how many Persian troops fought in the center according to Diodorus? I read Diodorus' work on Issos online and I have not managed to locate this information.

3) The arrow means they were arriving onto the battle field, it is also important to remember the numbers are maxima, several variables would see fewer or more reaching the action (continuing to cross the pass all night, rests on the approach march, etc) 5)You have not read the caption which adds 6...

a) The 8,000 are additional to the 64,000. They represent the largest number that could have crossed on the first day, during the second day those that had crossed (cavalry, Greeks, Kardaces, 8,000 lights and the Royal train) moved south to the Pinaros, although the original intent was to chase Ale...

I made it possible for about fifty thousand to actually gain the battlefield (6,000 cav, 12,000 Greeks, 24,000 Kardakes and 8,000 lights) which would be only a 5:4 advantage in men, but with a steady stream of marched out lights arriving through the day. Previously, (first reply on page 2 of this t...

Paralus wrote:Hando, I would echo Agesilaos' words above for there are in fact three methods for compacting the phalanx. This third is described by Asklepiodotos (4.3-4) and Aelian (11.1-6). Aelian further describes this compacting at 33.1-4.

Thanks. I'm going to tackle that thread as suggested.

Jona, in that link, is claiming something in the order of 80-100,000 in the Persian army at Issos. He is not claiming that the Macedonians outnumbered the Persian force outright but that it did so effectively. This he indicates by saying that not all the Persians could be deployed. So I read it as ...

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Hando, you are clearly a student, so beware of Xenophon's assertions, the general view is that the Macedonian phalanx fought sixteen deep; you should consider the alternative and the alleged evidence independently, however, and read the Taktike and Kynoskephalai threads if you have not already; the...

As to the question of numbers of Persians, since these were in effect unknown, one can only gain a rough idea. Another way of "guesstimating" is from the size of the ground that we are told the Persians occupied. This would give them somewhere between, say, 25-50,000 men. In other words, ...

Jona, in that link, is claiming something in the order of 80-100,000 in the Persian army at Issos. He is not claiming that the Macedonians outnumbered the Persian force outright but that it did so effectively. This he indicates by saying that not all the Persians could be deployed. So I read it as ...