Arms and the King

ARMS AND ARMOUR ARE SYMBOLS of status a warring society. Macedonian soldiers of the King's Army-the Macedones proper-were inordinately proud of their arms and armour, and that pride was maintained the Indus valley by Alexander's provision of new panoplies inlaid gold and silver (Curt. 9.3.21) and by his naming of the Hypaspists after their silver shields.' It was a cause of distress to them when Alexander gave Macedonian pikes and lances to picked Asian troops (Arr. An. 7.6.1 and 5). When Macedonians fell battle, they were buried their arms, and a tumulus was raised over their ashes. Thus at Chaeronea a tumulus, 70 m. diameter and 7 m. high, marked the burial of the fallen 338 B.C. When excavated, it yielded many iron weapons, including the heads of pikes and double-edged swords.2 After the Battle of the Granicus 334 B.c. Alexander buried the Macedonian dead with their weapons and other accoutrements (Arr. An. 1.16.5), and 329 B.C. he raised a tumulus over the dead and sacrificed honour of the dead in accordance Macedonian custom (Curt. 7.9.21).3 The prestige conferred by arms and armour the homeland was such that they were portrayed paintings on the walls of the built-tomb of Lyson and Callicles (see Macedonia 150); and there was a painting of an armed cavalryman charging his lance practice on the wall of the Kinch Tomb.4

Ancient history · Art · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History

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  Daniel Unruh•The Classical World•2011

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  Kyle Erickson•Brill's Companion to the…•2018

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• The Identification of the Sacred “Chiton” ( Sarapis ) of Pharaoh Alexander the Great in Tomb II at Vergina, Macedonia, Greece

  Antonis Bartsiokas•Journal of Field Archaeology•2024

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• The Royal Tombs at Vergina

  Open Access•N G L Hammond, Ν G L Hammond•The Annual of the British School…•1991

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• Late Classical and Hellenistic Silver Plate from Macedonia

  Eleni Zimi•Late Classical And Hellenistic…•2011

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