The Elusive Epigonoi

[agesilaos]

One of the enduring mysteries around Alexander is; what happened to the Epigonoi? Thirty thousand well trained phalangites would have been priceless in the Diadoch wars and yet they are never mentioned. Some may identify them with the pantodapoi or men of all races who occur frequently in the phalanxs of the Asia based Successors but they are never found at a strength of 30,000 and are frequently found on both sides. It would seem more reasonable that these represent re-trained mercenaries than a once magnificent corps dGÇÖelite.It is, perhaps, significant that the troops brought to Babylon by Peukestas do appear in PeukestasGÇÖ own forces and that there is good reason to think this force was mentioned by Aristoboulos. Arrian VII 24 I GÇÿAristoboulos says there was a further portent of things to come. Alexander was distributing among the Macedonian units the troops who had come from Persia with Peukestas and from the Ocean with Philoxenos and MenandrosGǪ.GÇÖ These are the 20,000 Persian archers and javelinmen along with the Tapurians and Cossaeans of VII 23 I , destined for the mixed phalanx. Since this would absorb 6600 odd Macedonians we can say that AlexanderGÇÖs phalanx was down to 4/7 ths of its strength and yet he ignores a force five times the strength of the forces at hand. This seems peculier.I contend that the Epigonoi are a figment of some writerGÇÖs imagination, Kleitarchos being the most likely candidate. They appear in context with a mutiny mis-placed at Susa by the vulgate (cf.Plut 71) and recounted twice by Arrian, the complaints at Susa the mutiny at Opis. At VII 11 iii Arrian concocts his own list of complaints extrapolating from his sourceGÇÖs bald remark that Persians were being drafted into Macedonian units he reels off as many Macedonian names as he can think of and couples it with a Persian one this is flummery. We can be sure this passage is his own since asthetairoi appear only in Arrian (and thus Ptolemy or Aristoboulos) yet Argyraspides for hypaspistai is late usage, and he uses agema twice for the Royal Hypaspists and the Royal ile .It would seem that the existence of the Epigonoi should be doubted they served merely to exaggerate AlexanderGÇÖs orientalising in an antipathetic history;

[marcus]

Hi Karl,An interesting viewpoint. I don't really know enough about the early Successor period to have a viewpoint, unfortunately... but I look forward to seeing what others have to say.All the bestMarcus

[dean]

Hello Karl,I find what you are talking about extremely interesting- especially due to the fact that recently I was curious about Peucestes(think I have spelt his name right this time).I am sorry that the details you go into I can't either agree or disagree with, for they go way beyond the scope of my historical knowledge.In fact, although quite embarrassed to admit it, I am unaware of the term Epigonoi but from what I can glean,it is referring to the Successors and their existence, relating to Alexander's orientalisation and propaganda of the same.I seem to remember something about the successors going back a while ago- that namely they were drummed up as a kind of punishment- or Alexander's way of saying to his own men- "look out guys- you are not quite as vital as you think." and I don't think that Alexander could have got a better man for the job- Peucestes seems to have loved "all things Persian".Best regards and like Marcus says, look forward to reading more discussion on this topic.Dean.

[agesilaos]

Epigonoi is usually translated as 'The Heirs@ or somesuch rather than the Successors who are the Diadochoi; their sons were also called 'epigonoi';
and you are right that great play has been made, not least by my mate A B Bosworth about the establishment of essentially an anti-army, based on this passage. But I have to disagree with his conclusions ,the Macedonians would have hated any Persian influx and the incorporation of Orientals is attested by Aristoboulos these people seem spurious to me. I urge everyone to read Diodoros XVIII-XX there is so much in it about those around Alexander based on a reasonable source (Heironymos of Kardia)and it is a good read; easier than Curtius, for example.

[marcus]

Of course, there was a literary reference to the "Epigoni", too - the sons of the "Seven Against Thebes" who attempted a storming of Thebes themselves were known as the Epigoni. My Greek isn't good enough but I suspect "successors" or "heirs" would both be equally legitimate translations.All the bestMarcus

[ruthaki]

I understood the "epigonoi" were the new troops Alexander put together composed of Persians. And this really upset the old guard Macedonians as they felt it was an honour that shouldn't have been bestowed on them. Perhaps after Alexander's death these troops were gradually just dispersed as the other Successors didn't seem to agree with it.

[yiannis]

If you need the actual translation of "epigonoi", it is translated as "descedants" from Greek, but I guess that I have to say that the term is here used as "those who follow"?

[agesilaos]

One possibility is that the Epigonoi are the sons of Macedonian soldiers and native women and that Alexander's promise to educate these has been conflated with the raising and incorporation of Persian light infantry by our sources.Naturally, Epigonoi can be translated in a number of ways I merely meant it was traditional to translate it as Heirs and diadochoi as successors.