Ptolemaics weren't more specific faction than Seleucids

[torongill]

Yeah, there were "Jewish Zealots" mercs. Spearmen with little armor, but good evasion and scary attack.

[torongill]

As well as Thracians and Gauls, and "Lybians", whatever those are. Plus the elephants. And the native phalanx. And afterwards "immitation Gauls".

BTW, it's interesting that even though at Raphia Ptolemy's elephants routed, he ended the battle capturing the majority of the Seleucid elephants.

[KLAssurbanipal]

I perfectly know about mercenaries. I wrote about the Egyptian nation.

''And the native phalanx.''

I wrote:

Ptolemaic Empire used natives in 2nd BC.
In 4th-3rd BC they used only Greek-Macedonian units.

P.S. Libyans? They were in Carthaginian army. Show me a source for that.

[torongill]

Polybius 5.65 and 5.82 Polybius makes a difference between Egyptians and Lybians.

[KLAssurbanipal]

About both in Ptolemies army? I think he wrote about difference in their nationalities.

[torongill]

All these officers, too, had commands in the army suited to their particular accomplishments. Eurylochus of magnesia commanded about three thousand men of what were called in the royal armies the Agema, or Guard; Socrates of Boeotia had two thousand light-armed troops under him; while the Achaean Phoxidas, and Ptolemy the son of Thraseas, and Andromachus of Aspendus were associated in the duty of drilling the phalanx and the mercenary Greek soldiers on the same ground,—Andromachus and Ptolemy commanding the phalanx, Phoxidas the mercenaries; of which the numbers were respectively twenty-five thousand and eight thousand. The cavalry, again, attached to the court, amounting to seven hundred, as well as that which was obtained from Lybia or enlisted in the country, were being trained by Polycrates, and were under his personal command: amounting in all to about three thousand men. In the actual campaign the most effective service was performed by Echecrates of Thessaly, by whom the Greek cavalry, which, with the whole body of mercenary cavalry, amounted to two thousand men, was splendidly trained. No one took more pains with the men under his command than Cnopias of Allaria. He commanded all the Cretans, who numbered three thousand, and among them a thousand Neo-Cretans^, over whom he had set Philo of Cnossus. They also armed three thousand Libyans in the Macedonian fashion, who were commanded by Ammonius of Barce. The Egyptians themselves supplied twenty thousand soldiers to the phalanx, and were under the command of Sosibius. A body of Thracians and Gauls was also enrolled, four thousand being taken from settlers in the country and their descendants, while two thousand had been recently enlisted and brought over: and these were under the command of Dionysius of Thrace. Such in its numbers, and in the variety of the elements of which it was composed, was the force which was being got ready for Ptolemy.

The actual deployment:
But Ptolemy's two wings were formed as follows:—Polycrates, with the cavalry under his command, occupied the left, and between him and the phalanx were Cretans standing close by the horsemen; next them came the royal guard; then the peltasts under Socrates, adjoining the Libyans armed in Macedonian fashion. On the right wing was Echecrates of Thessaly, with his division of cavalry; on his left were stationed Gauls and Thracians; next them Phoxidas and the Greek mercenaries, extending to the Egyptian phalanx.

[kikokyle]

HA! He just out historied you!

[Xanthippus of Sparta]

The Polybius quote brings up a good point, though.

The Ptolemies recruited from a diverse pool of soldiery, but mostly had their men trained to fit near-exact Macedonian style troop types. Really, only the storied Gauls fought in their own style for Egypt.

The Seleucids, by comparison, used mercenaries who nearly across the board fought in their own native style, which is to say they borrowed from the Persian way of doing things.

[Xanthippus of Sparta]

Sorry, double post.

[Asgaroth]

I have a feeling that Ptolemaics will be in the game before Seleucids.

[KLAssurbanipal]

Sorry double post