Why were archers the primary force in Achaemenid armies?

[Kitsunegari]

blatta, why haven't you posted on my Assyrian thread on the VV? I feel neglected :/

[Intranetusa]

the persians were terrified of melee fighting, they stood back and prayed the greeks could be deterred by heavy fire. As soon as the hoplite/pikemen closed ranks with the sparabara the persians would usually run in terror... if they were not chained together and forced to fight to the death by their cruel 'god' king. This is where the association between smell and fear originated, chained persian slave warriors usually stank of urine and faeces as they knew they could not escape the greeks.

So...reality is even worse than 300....in the movie, the Persians at least fought....

nein, that is totally wrong and utterly ridiculous. They weren't literally chained together. That was a figure of speech to describe the closeness of their formations. Written works makes references to Persian cavalry also being "chained together" - so it's obvious that they're not literally chained together.

The Persians were not terrified of melee fighting. They did have some decent melee infantry besides their Immortals and Greek mercenaries.

Also, 300 is totally fictional. The Persian conscript-soldiers were not slaves. The Persians had actually outlawed slavery whereas most of the Spartan population were slaves (helots). So the Persians had a freer society than Spartans. The Persians did not force their soldiers to fight to the death, and their king was not a cruel "god king." The Persians aren't Egyptians - they didn't consider their king to be god. They only considered their king to have the divine right to rule, similar to European monarchs and the Mandate of Heaven.

I suggest you come post in the Europa Barbarorum thread section, there are plenty of knowledgeable people there who can dispel your stereotypes of the Persian military.

[Kitsunegari]

Do you know what sarcasm is?

[Intranetusa]

Do you know what sarcasm is?

When dealing with Persia-Greek topics, sometimes one can't tell if it's sarcasm or not, because some people actually believe the movie 300 is historically accurate.

[Kitsunegari]

Haha true.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

blatta, why haven't you posted on my Assyrian thread on the VV? I feel neglected :/

Too many infractions; can't post in the VV.

[nein]

that hoplite could easily cut off the sparas exposed legs in one clean hellenistic slice

[Kitsunegari]

:/ Well if you ever got unbanned we can get the Assyrian juggernaut rolling again

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

that hoplite could easily cut off the sparas exposed legs in one clean hellenistic slice

I was about to explode in rage but then I saw "Hellenistic", which suggests you've been trollin'. If you haven't, then I'll rage on you.

[the persian Immortal]

nein, that is totally wrong and utterly ridiculous. They weren't literally chained together. That was a figure of speech to describe the closeness of their formations. Written works makes references to Persian cavalry also being "chained together" - so it's obvious that they're not literally chained together.

The Persians were not terrified of melee fighting. They did have some decent melee infantry besides their Immortals and Greek mercenaries.

Also, 300 is totally fictional. The Persian conscript-soldiers were not slaves. The Persians had actually outlawed slavery whereas most of the Spartan population were slaves (helots). So the Persians had a freer society than Spartans. The Persians did not force their soldiers to fight to the death, and their king was not a cruel "god king." The Persians aren't Egyptians - they didn't consider their king to be god. They only considered their king to have the divine right to rule, similar to European monarchs and the Mandate of Heaven.

I suggest you come post in the Europa Barbarorum thread section, there are plenty of knowledgeable people there who can dispel your stereotypes of the Persian military.

so true

@ cockroach : why does that persian soldier carry such sword ??? isn't that a hellenic sword???

oh and BTW this topic is going waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay toooooooooo off topic

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Doesn't matter if it was or wasn't a sword of Hellenic origin; it is clear they used it a lot.

[Anakarsis]

Back on the last useful subject before the troll invasion.....If Egypt military classes were not used because they supported nomarcs and local powers that traditionally intended to divide Egypt in smaller dominions.....why dont make two different barracks for them? one for levies/mercenaries and the other for local professionals, the late adding unrest to the settlement? That way the situation could be reflected better

[the persian Immortal]

^ nice Idea

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Back on the last useful subject before the troll invasion.....If Egypt military classes were not used because they supported nomarcs and local powers that traditionally intended to divide Egypt in smaller dominions.....why dont make two different barracks for them? one for levies/mercenaries and the other for local professionals, the late adding unrest to the settlement? That way the situation could be reflected better

Good idea indeed. But then there will be no point in building the second tree, because the Carian/Lydian/Ionian mercs were much better. I'd say there has to be some drawbacks to the merc tree. What about the first increasing corruption and thus decreasing profit, but the latter increasing unrest so as to show the populace's discontent with being run through foreign mercenary forces?

[nein]

the symbol on the persians shield looks like a medieval european crest, was that image used by the ancient persians?

[TWWolfe]

erm, its not like symbols depicting mythical beasts are anything new, really.

[nein]

I associate that particular style with medieval europe, did the acheamids actually use that deisgn?

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

The Achaemenids - who knows. But the Sassanids did. And Sassanids copied Achaemenids in quite a few aspects.

P.S. @All the people rejoycing at my "sudoku":Yes, I am back! And I've lost about a hundred posts in the month I was gone.

And it's seppuku, not sudoku. Sudoku is a game.

[Savoyard]

I associate that particular style with medieval europe, did the acheamids actually use that deisgn?

I think it's suppose to be some symbol of Zoroastrianism. The Sassasnids used it a lot and they were probably a good example of 'feudalism before feudalism was cool'.

[nein]

I thought the eastern romans invented feudalism?