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The Seventeenth Book of Diodorus: in Two Parts
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95chapter 96chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100chapter 101chapter 102chapter 103chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112chapter 113chapter 114chapter 115chapter 116chapter 117chapter 118
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On the right wing Alexander stationed the royal squadron under the command of Cleitus
the Black (as he was called), and next to this the other Friends1 under the command of Parmenion's son
Philotas, then in succession the other seven squadrons under the same commander.
[2]
Behind these was stationed the infantry battalion of the Silver
Shields,2
distinguished for the brilliance of their armour and the valour of the men; they were led by
Nicanor, the son of Parmenion. Next to them was the battalion from Elimiotis,3 as it was called,
under the command of Coenus; next he stationed the battalion of the Orestae and the Lyncestae,
of which Perdiccas held the command. Meleager commanded the next battalion and Polyperchon the
one after that, the people called Stymphaeans being under him.
[3]
Philip the son of Balacrus held the next command and, after him, Craterus. As for the
cavalry, the line of the squadrons which I have mentioned was continued with the combined
Peloponnesian and Achaean horse, then cavalry from Phthiotis and Malis, then Locrians and
Phocians, all under the command of Erigyius of Mitylene.
[4]
Next
were posted the Thessalians who had Philip as commander; they were far superior to the rest in
their fighting qualities and in their horsemanship. And next to these he stationed the Cretan
archers and the mercenaries from Achaia.
[5]
On both flanks he kept his wings back so that the enemy with their
superior numbers could not envelop the shorter line of the Macedonians.
[6]
Against the threat of the scythed chariots, he ordered the infantry of
the phalanx to join shields as soon as these went into action against them and to beat the
shields with their spears, creating such a din as to frighten the horses into bolting to the
rear, or, if they persevered, to open gaps in the ranks such that they might ride through
harmlessly. He himself took personal command of the right wing and advancing obliquely planned
to settle the issue of the battle by his own actions.4
1 This term is somewhat unexpectedly used instead of the usual term "Companions" (Arrian. 3.11.8). The full accounts of the Battle of Gaugemela are those of Curtius 4.12-16 and Arrian 3.11-15; cp. also Justin 11.13-14.3; Plut. Alexander 32-33.
2 These were the infantry of the guard, the hypaspistae, called by the name which came into use only in the period of the Successors (Tarn, Alexander the Great, 2, p. 116. Curtius 8.5.4 writes of the introduction of silver and gold trappings in 327.
3 The battalions of the Macedonian phalanx were organized on a territorial basis and known by the names of their component elements.
4 Diodorus's account of Alexander's dispositions agrees generally with those of Curtius 4.13.26-35 and Arrian. 3.11.8-12.5, with the exceptions that Arrian gives only six squadrons of the Companions in addition to that of Cleitus, and names Simmas as battalion commander instead of Philip (who is named also by Curtius 4.13.28; a Philip appears in 327 as a battalion commander with Alexander in operations north of the Kabul River, Arrian. 4.24.10).
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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- Cross-references to this page (11):
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- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(4):
- LSJ, Μηλι^εύς
- LSJ, ἀργυ^ρ-άσπι^δες
- LSJ, ἐπικάμπ-ιος
- LSJ, ἱππαρχ-ία
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