defining one's terms

[agesilaos]

A Preliminary note on Arrian’s use of the term ‘taxis’

Since any discussion of the asthetairoi is plagued with misunderstandings arising from Arrian’s use of this term, towhit that it generally means a phalanx brigade or battalion, depending on the translator’s taste for anachronism. This note is of a preliminary nature in that not only is it essential to sort out the force of the term before proceeding to discuss the asthetairoi but also I have only abstracted the usages in Book I of ‘Anabasis Alexandrou’ ; this is sufficient, however to make my point (an exhaustive study is on the ‘to do’ list).

Arrian uses ‘taxis’ or its related verb ‘taxein’ on eighteen occasions. Of these only six clearly refer to subdivisions of the phalanx:-

6, vi ‘…kai epi toutois tas taxeis ton Makedonon…’ - and after these the taxies of the Macedonians

6, ix (b) ‘…kai ten Perdikkou kai Koinou taxin…’ – and the taxeis of Perdikkas and Koinos

8, I ‘alla legei Ptolemaios ho Lagou, oti Perdikkas, protetagmenos tes phylakes tou stratopedon syn tei autou taxei…’ – But Ptolemy son of Lagos says that Perdikkas, who was officer in charge of the camp guard with his own taxis

8, ii ‘toutoi de hepomenos Amyntas ho Andromenous, oti kai zyntetagmenos toi Perdikkai en epegage kai autous ten autou taxin…’ – Amyntas son of Andromenes followed with his own taxis as he was brigaded with Perdikkas

20, v ‘…kai ten Amyntou te kai Perdikkou kai Meleagrou taxin ten peziken…’ – and the infantry taxeis of Amyntas, Perdikkas and Meleagros.

and

21, I ‘…duo ton Makedonon hoplitai ek tes Perdikkou taxeos…’ – two Macedonian hoplites from Perdikkas’ taxis

Twice it refers to the hypaspists:-

21, iv ‘Ptolomaios ho somatophylax ho basilikos, ten te Adaiou kai Timandrou ama hoi taxin agon kai estin hous ton psilon’ – Ptolemy the Royal Bodyguard brought up Adaios and Timandros together wth their taxeis and some of the light troops

Since neither Adaios nor Timandros can be shown to have held a phalanx command and at 21 vii Adaios’ death notice gives his rank as chiliarch, it would seem inescapable that these men were hypaspists.

28 iii ‘…tous hypaspistas eichen, echomenous de touton tous pezhetairous este epi to eumnymon parateinas, hos ekastois ton strategon he hegemonia tes taxeos en tei tote hemerai hen..’ – he had the hypaspists and next to them the pezhetairoi, extended to the left wing, each taxis under the commanders in order of precedence for the day.

It may be argued that this is clearly a reference to the phalanx but aside from the doubts about who the pezhetairoi really are the term covers both them and the hypaspists.

Again twice the term refers to the psiloi, explicitly:-

27, viii ’analabon tous te toxatas kai tas ton akontiston taxeis kai ton hopliton hosoi koupheteroi epegagen.’ – he took the archers the taxeis of javlinmen and the nimblest of the hoplites.

And implicitly:-

14,vi ‘…kai ton pezon mian taxin…’ – and one taxis of foot

16, I shows that the only foot involved initially were psiloi unless one choose to misconstrue 15, iv where ‘taxeon’ clearly refers to cavalry, as is made clear by the next sentence:-

‘kai en touton allai ep’allais ton taxeon tois Makedosi diebaion ou chalepos ede. Kai en men apo ton hipponhe mache , pezomachia de mallon ti eokei.’ – and meanwhile the Macedonians, taxis upon taxis, kept crossing , a task no longer so difficult. Though the fighting was ON HORSEBACK, it resembled an infantry battle

Further at 6, ix Glaukias’ troops are described ‘…kai oute phylakes en tei taxei autois philattomenas… ouk ophelimon apotetagmenon autois ten taxin…’ – the sentry posts were in no particular order… the taxis strung out in no order.

Here the meaning as at 8, v(Thebans), 13, I and iii the meaning is very general such as ‘battle-line’ or simply ‘formation’.

At 14,ii the units of the various commanders are called ‘phalanxes’ cf 14, iii ‘he te Kraterou phalanx…este epi to meson tes zympases taxeos’ the phalanx of Krateros etc up to the middle of the whole line (taxeos).

The usage ‘phalanx’ litters the whole book especially the later section, but it is clear that taxis is not a technical term at all but a general catch-all, when Ptolemy wrote he knew what units the various comanders led and assumed his readers would so he says Krateros’s unit knowing that everyone would know what he meant, Aristoboulos on the other hand gives the unit name ‘a phalanx’ probably in full – the phalanx of Elimaia, etc along the lines of the cavalry eilai. In any case there is no justification for translating ‘taxis’ as ‘phalanx battalion’ and once this is accepted what is meant by asthetairoi can be approached more clearly.

Note; The misunderstanding of Arrian’s usage has led some astray to such an extent that Hammond has the phalanx win the battle at Granikos by crossing the river ignoring the statements that it was a cavalry engagement , and all because of those errant ‘taxeis’.

[marcus]

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