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#51
Army Research / The rearming of Persians befor...
Last post by Jim Webster - Jan 11, 2026, 02:50 PMI was reading one modern source (Alexander the Great, lessons in strategy) and came across a comment set just before Gaugamela.
"Darius had made some technological progress since his first meeting with Alexander at Issus. His cavalry were no longer armed with javelins , but instead wielded longer swords and thrusting spears. There had been changes on the defensive front as well. His infantrymen were equipped with larger shields and some of his cavalry had link-armour."
I remembered the spears, but the infantry shields came as a surprise, so I went to the sources.
Arrian mentions levelling the ground.
Arrian. An. 3.8.6
With these forces Darius had encamped at Gaugamela, near the river Bumodus, about 600 stades distant from the city of Arbela, in a district everywhere level;[398] for whatever ground thereabouts was unlevel and unfit for the evolutions of cavalry, had long before been levelled by the Persians, and made fit for the easy rolling of chariots and for the galloping of horses.
Diodorus mentions swords and lances
"By the time he heard of his arrival, Dareius had already assembled his forces from all directions and made everything ready for the battle. He had fashioned swords and lances much longer than his earlier types because it was thought that Alexander had had a great advantage in this respect in the battle in Cilicia. He had also constructed two hundred scythe-bearing chariots well designed to astonish and terrify the enemy."
Diod. 17.53.1
And it was Curtis who gets even more expansive.
Curtis 4.9.3
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Curtius/4*.html
since the army was about half as large as it had been in Cilicia, many lacked arms, which were being prepared with the greatest care. The horsemen and horses had shields made of iron plates connected together in a series: who had previously given nothing but spears, shields and swords were added. 4 And the herds of horses to be tamed were distributed to the footmen, so that the cavalry would be greater than before:
I found another translation of the same bit
You cannot view this attachment.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008158415&seq=285
So the cavalry got longer spears and longer swords. The former I knew.
Some seem to have got horse armour. At least at the front.
The bit that intrigued me was "who had previously given nothing but spears, shields and swords were added"
Spears appear as javelins in other accounts.
Now it could be cavalry again, but the shields threw me because Shielded Persian cavalry don't seem to be supported by anything else.
So he could have given shields and swords to infantry. But to infantry armed only with javelins or spears alone.
I was left wondering who these might be, or whether Curtis has just got his wires crossed or other translations make it more clear.
Given Darius had nearly two years to build his army, Diodorus comments, "4 He had in mind to deploy for battle in the vicinity of Nineveh, since the plains there were well suited to his purpose and afforded ample manoeuvre room for the huge forces at his disposal. Pitching camp at a village named Arbela, he drilled his troops daily and made them well disciplined by continued training and practice. He was most concerned lest some confusion should arise in the battle from the numerous peoples assembled who differed in speech."
So he had plenty of time to train them with new weaponry.
"Darius had made some technological progress since his first meeting with Alexander at Issus. His cavalry were no longer armed with javelins , but instead wielded longer swords and thrusting spears. There had been changes on the defensive front as well. His infantrymen were equipped with larger shields and some of his cavalry had link-armour."
I remembered the spears, but the infantry shields came as a surprise, so I went to the sources.
Arrian mentions levelling the ground.
Arrian. An. 3.8.6
With these forces Darius had encamped at Gaugamela, near the river Bumodus, about 600 stades distant from the city of Arbela, in a district everywhere level;[398] for whatever ground thereabouts was unlevel and unfit for the evolutions of cavalry, had long before been levelled by the Persians, and made fit for the easy rolling of chariots and for the galloping of horses.
Diodorus mentions swords and lances
"By the time he heard of his arrival, Dareius had already assembled his forces from all directions and made everything ready for the battle. He had fashioned swords and lances much longer than his earlier types because it was thought that Alexander had had a great advantage in this respect in the battle in Cilicia. He had also constructed two hundred scythe-bearing chariots well designed to astonish and terrify the enemy."
Diod. 17.53.1
And it was Curtis who gets even more expansive.
Curtis 4.9.3
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Curtius/4*.html
since the army was about half as large as it had been in Cilicia, many lacked arms, which were being prepared with the greatest care. The horsemen and horses had shields made of iron plates connected together in a series: who had previously given nothing but spears, shields and swords were added. 4 And the herds of horses to be tamed were distributed to the footmen, so that the cavalry would be greater than before:
I found another translation of the same bit
You cannot view this attachment.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008158415&seq=285
So the cavalry got longer spears and longer swords. The former I knew.
Some seem to have got horse armour. At least at the front.
The bit that intrigued me was "who had previously given nothing but spears, shields and swords were added"
Spears appear as javelins in other accounts.
Now it could be cavalry again, but the shields threw me because Shielded Persian cavalry don't seem to be supported by anything else.
So he could have given shields and swords to infantry. But to infantry armed only with javelins or spears alone.
I was left wondering who these might be, or whether Curtis has just got his wires crossed or other translations make it more clear.
Given Darius had nearly two years to build his army, Diodorus comments, "4 He had in mind to deploy for battle in the vicinity of Nineveh, since the plains there were well suited to his purpose and afforded ample manoeuvre room for the huge forces at his disposal. Pitching camp at a village named Arbela, he drilled his troops daily and made them well disciplined by continued training and practice. He was most concerned lest some confusion should arise in the battle from the numerous peoples assembled who differed in speech."
So he had plenty of time to train them with new weaponry.
#52
Army Research / Re: The early Franks and strip...
Last post by Imperial Dave - Jan 11, 2026, 02:09 PMMuch obliged Anthony and also Duncan in anticipation of anything 
#53
Weapons and Tactics / Re: Ride across the river, dee...
Last post by Imperial Dave - Jan 11, 2026, 02:08 PMIndeed...
#54
Weapons and Tactics / Re: Ride across the river, dee...
Last post by Keraunos - Jan 11, 2026, 02:08 PMThat could be a hell of a wait
#55
Weapons and Tactics / Re: Ride across the river, dee...
Last post by Nick Harbud - Jan 11, 2026, 01:40 PMIf one has the time, one can always wait for the river to freeze over...
#56
Army Research / Re: The early Franks and strip...
Last post by Erpingham - Jan 11, 2026, 01:35 PMLong ago we did dig into this on the forum, but I can't find it at the moment. My recollection is that there is an issue with the word "striped", which means multi-coloured rather than specifically the wide hoops traditionally illustrated. I also recall that it was Duncan's linguistic expertise and source knowledge that led to this, so perhaps he will recall better than I.
#57
Army Research / The early Franks and stripey c...
Last post by Imperial Dave - Jan 11, 2026, 01:11 PMSo whilst painting up my Frankish DBA army i naturally turned to a few online resources to see what i should do re clothing etc. Stripey clothing comes up alot but am not sure where the first reference to it is. Can anyone help me? Also is the stripey clothing thing just a retrospective attachment to the Franks by later writers due to its association with the devil by the medieval church?
#58
Ancient and Medieval History / Re: Rare gold coin found in Yo...
Last post by Imperial Dave - Jan 11, 2026, 01:01 PMIndeed... 
#59
Weapons and Tactics / Re: Ride across the river, dee...
Last post by Imperial Dave - Jan 11, 2026, 01:01 PMGreat article, thanks Anthony. Very handy for me!
#60
Weapons and Tactics / Ride across the river, deep an...
Last post by Erpingham - Jan 11, 2026, 11:52 AMDavid Bachrach has produced another of his short pieces on Early Medieval warfare, this time focussed on Ottonians and their approach to forcing a river crossing.
Contested river crossings were a common tactical challenge throughout our period and there were some well tried solutions, which clearly the Ottonians were well aware of. Get it wrong, though, and you could be in dire straits.
Contested river crossings were a common tactical challenge throughout our period and there were some well tried solutions, which clearly the Ottonians were well aware of. Get it wrong, though, and you could be in dire straits.