Hi Derek and all,
derek wrote: I'm reading the Indian campaign in Arrian, Curtius and Diodorus, with the odd foray into Plutarch, Justin and Strabo, so have pretty well covered it. I've reached Alexander reaching the sea, so he's about to turn and leave India, and there's been no mention of Persian troops whatsoever. Plenty of references to tribal cavalry from Bactria and points north, but that's all.
With my curiosity aroused as to the composition of Alexander’s army in India, I’ve been playing with numbers using Hammond’s
The Genius of Alexander the Great; his article, Casualties and Reinforcements of Citizen Soldiers in Greece and Macedonia:
Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 109 (1989), 56-68; and Appendix 5, Tables 4 thru 6, Approximate Troop Numbers in Alexander’s Army (Hellespont to India) from Donald W. Engels’
Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. The latter, by the way, includes references, along with numbers and adjustments for losses and garrisons as well as reinforcements!
I won’t list the individual numbers here (unless someone wants me to) but Hammond gives an approximate total of 29,400 citizen Macedonians deployed in Asia between 334 and 323, and a figure of 26,800 alive in 324-323, making for approximately 3,000 Macedonian dead over the ten year period. (Bosworth and Brunt have argued that Macedonian losses must have been far greater than recorded, therefore there had to have been enormous numbers of reinforcements from Macedonia that were omitted from Arrian and the other histories. I find both their arguments unconvincing.)
Now, Engels’ chart agrees with the figure of just over 120,000 troops in Alexander’s army before Gedrosia. So who are they and where did they come from? There is Diodorus’ controversial account of 30,000 Persians brought to the Hydaspes, of course, but what of the rest? Using the breakdowns given in Hammond’s bio (and an occasional foray into the sources), I made a rough list as follows: (Macedonian reinforcements are already included in Hammond’s calculations.)
Miletus – 300 Greek Mercenaries
Gordium – 3,000 Macedonian Foot, 300 Macedonian Cavalry, 200 Thessalian Cavalry, 150 Eleians
Sidon – 4,000 Greek Mercenaries
Tyre – 3,000 Greek Mercenaries
Egypt – 400 Greek Mercenaries, 500 Thracian Cavalry
Babylon – 500 Macedonian Cavalry, 6,000 Macedonian Foot, 600 Thracian Cavalry, 3,500 Thracian Foot, 380 Greek Mercenary Cavalry, 4,000 Greek Mercenary Foot.
Autumn, 330 BC – 300 Lydian Cavalry, 2,600 Lydian Foot
Winter 329/28 BC – 1,000 Cavalry and 8,000 Foot from Lycia and Syria
Artacoana – 130 Thessalian Cavalry, 500 Greek Mercenary Cavalry, 300 Lydian Cavalry, 3,000 Foot (?) from Illyricum, 2,600 Foot from Lydia
Bactria – 1,600 Greek Mercenary Cavalry, 11,400 Greek Mercenary Foot, 500 Lycian Cavalry, 4,000 Lycian Foot, 500 Syrian Cavalry, 4,000 Syrian Foot
Sogdia – Large forces of Sogdian, Bactrian, Scythian, Dahaean Cavalry
Nysa/Taxila – 400 Indian Cavalry from Nysa, 700 Indian Cavalry from Taxila, 5,000 Foot from Taxila
Hydaspes – 5,000 Thracian Cavalry, 7,000 Greek Foot from Harpalus, 30,000 Persians.
Mallians – 2,500 Cavalry
Oxydracae – 500 Cavalry
Sudracae – 1,300 Cavalry
I may be missing some figures, and the numbers are not adjusted for casualties and garrisons. I just wanted to get a general idea of the composition of Alexander’s forces by the time he began his return to the west. Which brings about this comment:
Hammond states that his calculations (of Macedonian casualties) “
are nothing more than probable in themselves”, but I find them quite credible. If his numbers are correct, or even close, then the reportedly huge numbers of people that died during the march through Gedrosia were NOT Macedonians. It could have been any combination of the peoples listed above, but not Alexander’s own men. And for some reason I find this thought vaguely disturbing . . .
Best regards,