pothos.org

A big mystery indeed!....And clearly early days on what is going to be a massive project, if it is to be excavated properly. Such a circular structure does not sound as if it bears any relation to other Macedonian type tombs. What makes the archaeologists think it is a "possible" tomb at a...

Agesilaos wrote: At Tarsos Xenophon says the Euphrates is twelve days march away, I measure the road route to Thapsacus as 174 miles, that's 14.5 miles a day. Well spotted, sirrah ! :D However, once again there are a number of variables, in particular that we don't know the exact route, and as previ...

Agesilaos quoted: Now one of Eumenes' distinguished commanders named Perdiccas had deserted him and was encamped at a distance of three days' march with the soldiers who had joined him in the mutiny, three thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry. Eumenes, accordingly, sent against him Phoenix of ...

The point of my post was that, throughout history, 15 mpd was at the lower end of 'a day's march' rather than the upper, and further that it was better to express 'a day's march' as a range of 14-21 mpd, or 15-20 mpd if you prefer, rather than as a single figure. The table I posted, and the general ...

Agesilaos wrote: Fifteen miles in a day's march for Diodorus' source would seem the upper limit. I think the evidence does not support this, and it simply cannot be so. Let us begin with what we can agree. A normal walking speed is about 3.5 mph ( 3 mph is 'dawdling' ), and reasonably fit or trained...

Most interesting, Paralus. Given that 'Thapsacus' was still known by this name in the time of Erastothenes ( 2nd C BC ), and Zeugma/Seleucia together with it's counterpart across the river on the East bank, Apamea, had in the meantime been flourishing as the main crossing of the Euphrates, it begs t...

Agesilaos wrote: I used Zeugma, anyway, I remembered it was a prime candidate and is ten miles further than from Carcemish, I have consulted that reference, and am not persuaded that the northern Zeugma is the correct place, not least because the author refers to two Zeugmas - 'old' and 'new' which ...

Agesilaos wrote: The illustration is of a defensive square with the baggage in the centre as described by Xenophon during the retreat after the battle when Tissaphernes was pursuing. It actually shows the square having altered into multiple columns marching through a defile in the multiple columns, ...

"The Greek mentality cannot be judged correctly from the standpoint of the modern scientist, and any attempt to force a spurious accuracy on to ancient measurements and translate them into mathematically exact modern equivalents is bound to have misleading results" D R Dicks, scientific b...

Agesilaos wrote: I am not too sure how far it would be practicable either, plains apart, in any broken terrain one risks defeat in detail or columns getting lost, no GPS then, though a system better than AppleMaps Ah, I see that you interpret "in parallel columns" differently to the meanin...

Agesilaos wrote: I like the idea of the standard march being 5 parasangs; extrapolating from the fact that parasang is really a measure of time it could make a five hour marching day for Persian forces. Philip, I am sure, was of the standard military opinion 'Train hard, fight easy.' Polyainos does ...

Studying these march tables need not be boring, for we can sometimes gain an insight into other aspects. I wondered about those 3 days of 'double marches'/10 parasangs that some commentators so airily dismiss, and that Warner arbitrarily shortens. Rather, let us assume that Xenophon is correct. Why ...

Agesilaos wrote: Given all the variables, which you have elucidated, I took up my opisometer and found its results much closer to Warner's distances using the map in the CAH volume 6 Macedon, 1st edition, but since this is a large scale map, I went to the digital map of the Roman Empire I posted her...

Agesilaos wrote: I'll print out the table, scan it and attach it; rig upon role. Doh !!.....Now why didn't I think of that? :lol: Here's the Table from the Tulane University website, and for convenience I'll repost the notes (mine): •*Note that distance estimates here vary from those given by Agesil...

Agesilaos wrote: Before analysing the march of Cyrus to Cunaxa some remarks on the size of his forces seems in order as part of the argument is that the size of a force is directly proportional to its march rate. Xenophon, I 7, gives 10,400 hoplites, 2,500 peltasts and 100,000 native troops; we can ...