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Short description

The Chaonian Agema are the elite royal infantry guard of Epeiros.

Description

The Chaonian Agema were the elite infantry royal guard of Epeiros, recruited from among the best men of the Chaonians, one of its major Greek-speaking koina (tribal leagues). They were armed in the classic equipment of the hoplites, which traditionally few Epeirotes could afford. The weapons and gear of these soldiers was of the finest quality; a large, round shield with offset rim (aspis), greaves, a colourful linothorax with shoulder-pieces and pteryges ("feathers") to protect the body, and a xiphos sword for close-fighting when the thrusting spear (dory) was broken or had been thrown. The beautifully decorated Thracian-style helmet of these hoplites reflects the proximity of the Chaonians to the fighting styles and gear of their Thracian, Illyrian and Macedonian neighbours.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Chaonians were one of the three major koina of Epeiros (the other two being the Molossians and Thesprotians) and had even ruled over all of Epeiros before the Molossians did (Str. 7.7.5). Traditionally a land of shepherds and pastoralists, with no real city to speak of, Epeiros was perceived as more barbarian than other Greek regions. Military coalitions of various tribes that banded together to build walled settlements as a protection against their neighbours caused the birth of the three major koina. The capital of the Chaonians was Phoinike, a bulwark against northern Illyrian and southern Korkyraian incursions, further fortified with heavy stone walls by the time of Pyrrhos. Even before Pyrrhos, Chaonia was the most notable area of the Epeirote territory, having a history of working together with Ambrakia against Korkyra and even approaching Sparta for an alliance during the Peloponnesian War (Hammond, Epirus, 1967).

While the rest of the Epeirote militias were trained as a pike phalanx, the Chaonian Agema were equipped and organised to fight in the manner of Macedonian hypaspists (shield-bearers), the fast-moving elite hoplites of Alexander the Great and his Successors. They featured in missions such as storming breaches and undertaking special assaults during sieges, and served as the fast-moving right wing of the main infantry line of Epeirote armies on the battlefield (Plut. Pyrrhos 28. 1.) The Chaonian Agema did not only occupy this position on the battlefield because it was the place of honour, but also because they played a vital role there. The Chaonian Agema served as the ‘hinge’, keeping the Epeirote phalanx ‘in touch’ with the cavalry on the wing, and either assisted the cavalry or protected the weak flanks of the sarissa-armed phalanx as required. For these reasons, the Chaonian Agema were often found working in conjunction with light-armed troops such as archers and peltasts.