Search found 847 matches

by Xenophon
Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:01 am
Forum: The Diadochi
Topic: The Probable site of Kynoskephalae battlefield 197 BC
Replies: 82
Views: 133297

Re: The Probable site of Kynoskephalae battlefield 197 BC

UNFINISHED BUSINESS I hesitate to re-open this thread which ended suddenly with the untimely death of Agesilaos. However, he was badly mistaken and the thread should not be left “up in the air” so to speak with points he demanded be addressed unanswered. Agesilaos wrote: Why do you not present some...
by Xenophon
Tue Dec 26, 2017 9:45 pm
Forum: Comments, help, suggestions etc
Topic: Direction of the forum
Replies: 46
Views: 73012

Re: Direction of the forum

I completed a chapter to a book a while ago ( yet to be published) on the subject of Philip's career, and his creation of the Macedonian empire in Europe. Perhaps a precis of this would suffice? Are you looking for a particular size of article? May I also take this opportunity to thank you for the w...
by Xenophon
Sun Dec 10, 2017 2:59 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Spartan JKM wrote: .... Modern scholarship on all of this (Hammond, Ellis, Gabriel, Willekes, etc) is no less knowledgeable of the fountainhead of evidence to work from, nor less discerning than any of you on when judging this issue on a holistic level. That’s not an opinion. No, it is just an examp...
by Xenophon
Sun Nov 12, 2017 11:36 pm
Forum: Comments, help, suggestions etc
Topic: Direction of the forum
Replies: 46
Views: 73012

Re: Direction of the forum

Amyntoros wrote : I'm constantly seeing Alexander related articles in online Indian news sites. It would be nice to have a place to post them where they can perhaps be discussed without being immediately dismissed as historically inaccurate. The fact that different cultures have different viewpoints...
by Xenophon
Sun Nov 12, 2017 12:14 am
Forum: Comments, help, suggestions etc
Topic: Direction of the forum
Replies: 46
Views: 73012

Re: Direction of the forum

Paralus wrote: While I might be the only active member left with such interests, who knows? I imagine I'd have to "pull my finger out" as we say here and get some things kicked off if we went that way. Rest assured you are not the only active member left with such interests. I, for one, sh...
by Xenophon
Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:18 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Alexander in Jerusalem
Replies: 17
Views: 7357

Re: Alexander in Jerusalem

......hardly surprising, considering that Jona is himself Jewish.......
by Xenophon
Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:21 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Alexander the Great...Good or Bad King, or neither? An Essay
Replies: 81
Views: 54913

Re: Alexander the Great...Good or Bad King, or neither? An Essay

Paralus Fri mar17 This "argument" is surely the haymaker of strawmen. No one, myself included, has claimed that Thukydides (or Diodorus' source for Books 18-20) refer to "campaigning years/seasons" as their dating method. This is, and always has been, a modern descriptor of the m...
by Xenophon
Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:26 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Spartan JKM wrote : We know Antipitar was in Macedon, following Polyaenus' excerpt (as stratagems were central to his work, he likely would have mentioned a 'night raid', which would entail torches, thus minimizing the degree of surprise), and Philip, circumventing Thermopylae, was in Doris (almost ...
by Xenophon
Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:36 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Sean M. wrote: But the story of Parmenion at Gaugamela implies that he was not in the front rank of the sarisophoroi, because once the file had closed and the sarisas had been lowered someone in the front rank had no chance to observed the overall situation let alone to call for a messenger, give hi...
by Xenophon
Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:30 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

On a slightly different note, the site of the battle of Chaeronea is well known, and its width is roughly 2.3 km or 2,500 yards between the river Cephissus to the north and the mountains to the south. Allowing for some peltasts/light troops on both sides this is exactly the right width for the two p...
by Xenophon
Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:11 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Paralus wrote: The implication is that these are advisors to the 18 year old Alexander who is, I agree, commanding one wing of the army a la Parmenion under Alexander. Hence I'd expect these to be those eminent commanders who'd held army commands independently in the past and were no longer "ti...
by Xenophon
Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:44 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Paralus wrote: Then again, Perdikkas is an infantry commander at Thebes under Alexander but a member of the hypaspist agema or king's foot guard (along with Leonnatos) when Philip is assassinated (Diod. 16.94.4). Being a Royal Guard has always been regarded as being in "the fast lane" for ...
by Xenophon
Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:04 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Paralus wrote: But you're correct: he can only have been a commander of a phalanx "battalion" and not one of the "seasoned generals". Whilst it is difficult to try and equate military ranks from vastly different times and places, "battalion" is a bad translation of a Ph...
by Xenophon
Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:46 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

Spartan JKM wrote: " I should have just opined 'Parmenio and Antipitar; the latter's night breakthrough at Amphissa prior to Chaeronea was effected with cavalry and infantry. " You really should check the sources rather than rely on secondary modern authors [such as the unreliable Richard ...
by Xenophon
Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:51 am
Forum: Discuss Alexander the Great
Topic: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?
Replies: 122
Views: 94885

Re: Did Alexander command the PHALANX at Chaeronea?

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, unless one side runs away before battle is joined, any fight where large armies numbering thousands get 'stuck in' to one another is bound to be 'prolonged', for it takes considerable time to inflict large numbers of casualties and/or affect the morale of one...