The discussion concerns what happened to the ‘Basilikoi Paides’ once they had reached the age to leave that group. For that reason I will start with the ‘Paides’ as there is a lot of confusion in the literature and some downright lies from authors who should know better.
The most culpable is the ever imaginative N G L Hammond in his 1990 paper ‘Royal Pages, Personal Pages, and Boys Trained in the Macedonian Manner during the Period of the Temenid Monarchy’ in Historia 39, pp 261-290 (available free to read online at JSTOR). He collects a lot of the available evidence but ignores those pieces that do not suit his thesis.
On the age range of the Corps, he is sound; setting the final age group at 17-18, 18 being the age that boys attained their majority and he cites the examples of both Philip V and Alexander of Molossia ascending the throne at that age. The entry age was ‘puberty’ as stated by Arrian, though he is over pedantic in making that 14 since he wants the whole course to run four years, more likely the entry was based on physical maturity. He unfortunately garbles Curtius’ notice at V 1 xlii misunderstanding ‘liberos adultos’ as meaning boys just about to enter adulthood rather than boys quitting childhood for adolescence. That these were NOT the last age group, 17-18 is immediately clear; the group arrives at Babylon in late 331 yet the Pages Conspiracy is not until 327, is it in the least bit credible that these were 21 year olds? No, it is credible that they had served four years and were approaching ‘graduation’, however. They were still of an age when slaves could beat them, though and so cannot have attained any legal rights, which in Athens happened at 16 when boys became kyrioi and could transact business in their own right, in Macedon the transition may have been later but certainly no later than 18, when royal power could be assumed. If we assume Amyntas brought out the youngest group, then we have entry at between 12 and 14, which would match with Arrian’s onset of puberty.
This age bracket coincides with the age when homosexual relationships were permitted in Athens and the function of the Pages was certainly seen as a ready supply of young thighs. Greek writers assume that membership meant sexual relations with the king and accuse Philip of seducing Alexander of Epeiros as well as the two Pausaniases. Aelian VH XIV 48 specifically defends Philip from charges of sexual abuse,
The verbs here are translated somewhat tamely, ἐνυβρίζων enhubrizwn, means ‘to outrage’ and is used as a euphemism for rape, whilst ἐξευτελίζων, exeutelizwn means ‘to reduce’ and so ‘humiliate’ would serve better; the sexual implications are clear enough.ὅτι Φίλιππος τῶν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ δοκιμωτάτων τοὺς υἱεῖς παραλαμβάνων περὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θεραπείαν εἶχεν, οὔτι πού φασιν ἐνυβρίζων αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ ἐξευτελίζων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων καρτερικοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐκπονῶν καὶ ἑτοίμους πρὸς τὸ τὰ δέοντα πράττειν ἀποφαίνων.
Note that Philip took the sons of the leading Macedonian families into his personal service, not intending (so they say) to insult (ἐνυβρίζων) or demean(ἐξευτελίζων) them, but on the contrary training them to be fit and ensuring that they would be ready for action.’ Wilson, Loeb
The duties of the pages are laid out twice by Curtius and once by Arrian:
IV 13 i
.ἐκ Φιλίππου ἦν ἤδη καθεστηκὸς τῶν ἐν τέλει Μακεδόνων τοὺς παῖδας ὅσοι ἐς ἡλικίαν ἐμειρακιεύοντο καταλέγεσθαι ἐς θεραπείαν τοῦ βασιλέως, τά τε περὶ τὴν ἄλλην δίαιταν τοῦ σώματος διακονεῖσθαι βασιλεῖ καὶ κοιμώμενον φυλάσσειν τούτοις ἐπετέτραπτο. καὶ ὁπότε ἐξελαύνοι βασιλεύς, τοὺς ἵππους παρὰ τῶν ἱπποκόμων δεχόμενοι ἐκεῖνοι προσῆγον καὶ ἀνέβαλλον οὗτοι βασιλέα τὸν Περσικὸν τρόπον καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ θήρᾳ φιλοτιμίας βασιλεῖ κοινωνοὶ ἦσαν
IT was a custom current in Philip’s day, that the sons of those Macedonians who had enjoyed high office, should, as soon as they reached the age of puberty, be selected to attend the king’s court. These youths were entrusted with the general attendance on the king’s person and the protection of his body while he was asleep. Whenever the king rode out, some of them received the horses from the grooms, and brought them to him, and others assisted him to mount in the Persian fashion. They were also partners of the king in the emulation of the chase
Curtius V 1 xlii
.42 Idem Amyntas adduxerat L principum Macedoniae liberos adultos ad custodiam corporis: quippe inter epulas hi sunt regis ministri iidemque equos ineuntibus proelium admovent venantesque comitantur et vigiliarum vices ante cubiculi fores servant: magnorumque praefectorum et ducum haec incrementa sunt et rudimenta.
The same Amyntas had brought fifty liberos adultos of Macedonia’s chief men for a body-guard: for these wait upon the kings at table, bring them their horses when they go into battle, attend them at the chase, and stand guard in turn before the doors of their bedroom; and these duties are the novitiate and training-school of great prefects and generals
One thing to notice is that the Pages are distinguished in this last passage from the ‘armed guards’, implying that they themselves were unarmed. It is only here that the claim that the Pages fought with the king occurs. Previously in Curtius they bring the king his horse when he is going into battle but it is not stated that they join him. Nor does Arrian go beyond them collecting his horse from the grooms and helping him mount. The best way to resolve this is to look at those occasions when the Pages are stated to have fought.Curtius VIII 6 ii
Mos erat, ut supra dictum est, principibus Macedonum adultos liberos regibus tradere ad munia haud multum servilibus ministeriis abhorrentia. 3 Excubabant servatis noctium vicibus proximi foribus eius aedis, in qua rex adquiescebat. Per hos pelices introducebantur alio aditu, quam quem armati obsidebant. 4 Iidem acceptos ab agasonibus equos, cum rex ascensurus esset, admovebant comitabanturque et venantem et in proeliis omnibus, artibus studiorum liberalium exculti. 5 Praecipuus honor habebatur, quod licebat sedentibus vesci cum rege. Castigandi eos verberibus nullius potestas praeter ipsum erat. 6 Haec cohors velut seminarium ducum praefectorumque apud Macedonas fuit: hinc habuere posteri reges, quorum stirpi post multas aetates Romani opes ademerunt.
It was the custom, as was said before, for the leading men of the Macedonians to entrust their sons to the king on their coming of age for duties not very different to the services of slaves. They kept watch at night in turn close to the doors of the room in which the king slept. By these youths concubines were brought in by a different entrance from that before which armed guards were posted. They also received horses from the grooms, brought them to the reigning king when he was about to mount and accompanied him in the chase and in battle, besides being thoroughly trained in all the accomplishments of liberal studies. The special honour was paid them of being allowed to sit at table with the king. No one had the power of chastising them with flogging except the king himself. This troupe among the Macedonians was a kind of training school for generals and governors of provinces; from these also their posterity had the kings from whose stock after many ages the Romans took away all power.
Diodoros XVII 36 v
Clearly the Pages here are NOT fighting with Alexander who is away in pursuit of the enemy, they merely take over the tent of Dareios and make a bath ready, the sort of therapeia that was their duty.
οἱ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως παῖδες καταλαβόμενοι τὴν τοῦ Δαρείου σκηνὴν τἀκείνου λουτρὰ καὶ δεῖπνα παρεσκευάζοντο καὶ λαμπάδων πολλὴν πυρὰν ἅψαντες προσεδέχοντο τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ὅπως ἀπὸ τοῦ διωγμοῦ γενόμενος καὶ καταλαβὼν ἑτοίμην πᾶσαν τὴν παρασκευὴν τοῦ Δαρείου οἰωνίσηται τὴν ὅλην τῆς Ἀσίας ἡγεμονίαν
The royal pages now took over the tent of Dareios and prepared Alexander's bath and dinner and, lighting a great blaze of torches, waited for him, that he might return from the pursuit and, finding ready for him all the riches of Dareios, take it as an omen for his conquest of the empire of all Asia.
The only other instance where they are named as part of a fighting force is in the emergency at Zariaspa/Baktra in 328 at Arrian IV 16
The Pages here are not with Alexander who is campaigning but are at a base camp along with convalescents and Court Entertainers. Some of them (tinas) ride out to battle, presumably the elder age cohort(s) making it unlikely that any are serving with Alexander.He also sent Coenus and Artabazus into Scythia, because he was informed that Spitamenes had fled for refuge thither; but he himself with the rest of his army traversed Sogdiana and easily reduced all the places still held by the rebels.
While Alexander was thus engaged, Spitamenes, accompanied by some of the Sogdianian exiles, fled into the land of the Scythians called Massagetians, and having collected floo horsemen from this nation, he came to one of the forts in Bactriana. Falling upon the commander of this fort, who was not expecting any hostile demonstration, and upon those who were keeping guard with him, he destroyed the soldiers, and capturing the commander, kept him in custody. Being emboldened by the capture of this fort, a few days after he approached Zariaspa; but resolving not to attack the city, he marched away after collecting a great quantity of booty. But at Zariaspa a few of the Companion cavalry had been left behind on the score of illness, and with them Peithon, son of,Sosicles, who had been placed over the royal household of attendants at Zariaspa, and Aristonicus the harper. These men, hearing of the incursion of the Scythians, and having now recovered from their illness, took their arms and mounted their horses. Then collecting eighty mercenary Grecian horsemen, who had been left behind to guard Zariaspa, and some of the royal pages, they sallied forth against the Massagetians. Falling upon the Scythians, who had no suspicion of such an event, they deprived them of all the booty at the first onset, and killed many of those who were driving it off. But as no one was in command, they returned without any regard to order: and being drawn into an ambush by Spitamenes and other Scythians, they lost seven of the Companions and sixty of the mercenary cavalry. Aristonicus the harper was also slain there, having proved himself a brave man, beyond what might have been expected of a harper. Peithon, being wounded, was taken prisoner by the Scythians.
[3]…Κοῖνον δὲ καὶ Ἀρτάβαζον ὡς ἐς Σκύθας, ὅτι ἐς Σκύθας καταπεφευγέναι Σπιταμένης αὐτῷ ἐξηγγέλλετο, αὐτὸς δὲ ξὺν τῇ λοιπῇ στρατιᾷ ἐπιὼν τῆς Σογδιανῆς ὅσα ἔτι πρὸς τῶν ἀφεστηκότων κατείχετο ταῦτα οὐ χαλεπῶς ἐξῄρει. [4] ἐν τούτοις δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου ὄντος Σπιταμένης τε καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τῶν Σογδιανῶν τινες φυγάδων ἐς τῶν Σκυθῶν τῶν Μασσαγετῶν καλουμένων τὴν χώραν ξυμπεφευγότες ξυναγαγόντες τῶν Μασσαγετῶν ἱππέας ἑξακοσίους ἀφίκοντο πρός τι φρούριον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Βακτριανήν. [5] καὶ τῷ τε φρουράρχῳ οὐδὲν πολέμιον προσδεχομένῳ ἐπιπεσόντες καὶ τοῖς ξὺν τούτῳ τὴν φυλακὴν ἔχουσιν τοὺς μὲν στρατιώτας διέφθειραν, τὸν φρούραρχον δὲ ἑλόντες ἐν φυλακῇ εἶχον. θαρσήσαντες δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ φρουρίου τῇ καταλήψει ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ὕστερον Ζαριάσποις πελάσαντες τῇ μὲν πόλει προσβαλεῖν ἀπέγνωσαν, λείαν δὲ πολλὴν περιβαλλόμενοι ἤλαυνον. [6] ἦσαν δὲ ἐν τοῖς Ζαριάσποις νόσῳ ὑπολελειμμένοι τῶν ἑταίρων ἱππέων οὐ πολλοὶ καὶ ξὺν τούτοις Πείθων τε ὁ Σωσικλέους, ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς θεραπείας τῆς ἐν Ζαριάσποις τεταγμένος, καὶ Ἀριστόνικος ὁ κιθαρῳδός. καὶ οὗτοι αἰσθόμενοι τῶν Σκυθῶν τὴν καταδρομήν ῾ἤδη γὰρ ἐκ τῆς νόσου ἀναρρωσθέντες ὅπλα τε ἔφερον καὶ τῶν ἵππων ἐπέβαινον᾽ ξυναγαγόντες τούς τε μισθοφόρους ἱππέας ἐς ὀγδοήκοντα, οἳ ἐπὶ φυλακῇ τῶν Ζαριάσπων ὑπολελειμμένοι ἦσαν, καὶ τῶν παίδων τινὰς τῶν βασιλικῶν ἐκβοηθοῦσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς Μασσαγέτας. [7] καὶ τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ προσβολῇ οὐδὲν ὑποτοπήσασι τοῖς Σκύθαις ἐπιπεσόντες τήν τε λείαν ξύμπασαν ἀφείλοντο αὐτοὺς καὶ τῶν ἀγόντων τὴν λείαν οὐκ ὀλίγους ἀπέκτειναν. ἐπανιόντες δὲ αὐτοὶ ἀτάκτως, ἅτε οὐδενὸς ἐξηγουμένου, ἐνεδρευθέντες πρὸς Σπιταμένους καὶ τῶν Σκυθῶν τῶν μὲν ἑταίρων ἀποβάλλουσιν ἑπτά, τῶν δὲ μισθοφόρων ἱππέων ἑξήκοντα. καὶ Ἀριστόνικος ὁ κιθαρῳδὸς αὐτοῦ ἀποθνήσκει, οὐ κατὰ κιθαρῳδὸν ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς γενόμενος. πείθων δὲ τρωθεὶς ζῶν λαμβάνεται πρὸς τῶν Σκυθῶν
As an aside this strengthens E Carney’s suspicions ('The Role of the Basilikoi paides at the Argaead Court' in Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient Macedonian History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza
Timothy Howe (Editor), Jeanne Reames ) that the underlying cause for Hermolaos’ violent reaction was that Alexander was denying his manhood, this would be even more the case if Hermolaos and co had recently killed their men in this ambush of the Scythians then by killing his boar Hermolaos had actually become a man according to Macedonian custom, which would make the charge of ‘hubris’ levelled at Alexander quite justified.
What evidence there is, as opposed to what is inferred, shows that the Pages had no active military function, they were non-combatants except in extremis. This means that those occasions which refer to combat situations do not refer to the Pages.
In Curtius the ‘iuvenes’ of these passages are typically ‘noblissimi’ and that links these men with the Royal pages who are termed ‘pueri noblissimi’ at VIII 6 vii and X 5 viii. The natural conclusion is that the pueri grew into the iuvenes.
In Arrian there is a body who are called ‘hetairoi’ yet are hypaspists who may well be termed Hoi Bailikoi Hypaspistai elsewhere. Theopompos rules out this body being the ‘Pezhetairoi’ whose selection was based on stature and looks, with no rank qualification.
At the murder of Philip II three guards chase down Pausanias, Perdikkas, Leonattos and Attalos, all of whom are young nobles and probably members of this group, the concentration of noble recruits would seem hard to explain if they were not part of a solidly noble unit.
Reference added
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