Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

These Ephebes are undergoing training before their integration into the Macedonian military, but can be used as archers on the battlefield if need arises.

Description

This unit represents a mix of the average Ephebes, the Basilikoi Paidoi, and the Kynegoi. Armed with shortbows and a Hoplite spear, these young men between 15 and 20 years old can be deployed in various roles on the battlefield, but should be protected from heavier engagements. Due to their youth they are bold, ferocious and strong runners, but also inexperienced and not used to the terror of a real fight. If you are lvcky, you will be able to note the colourful tones of their clothes.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

As in the rest of Greece, young men in Macedon had to undergo several years of preparations before being able to join the adult community and entering the military. When they would turn 15 years old, they were registered as eligible for ephebic service in their local Gymnasion by the Epistates, the royal official in their region or city (Sekunda, Seleukid, Wednesday 15/06/2022). The sons of wealthy families were obliged to take part in a training programme that would not only form them into fit and strong young men, but also familiarize them with the laws, traditions, and customs of both their home city and the wider Greek world, as well as forge important networks that would shape their remaining lives. However, under certain circumstances, these well-off boys could be replaced by or their numbers increased with boys from poorer families. Similar to Spartan Mothakes (the sons of Spartiate fathers with Periocic or Helot women), they would usually not acquire the full citizen rights and end up in the light cavalry (Hatzopoulos, Macedonia 2020, p. 58-60).

The opposite was true for the sons of the Philoi (“Friends”) and other ministers and generals of the Macedonian king. These kids would form the Hetairoi (“Companions”) of the king’s sons and were educated together with them. We famously see this in Oliver Stone’s Alexander movie, where Aristotle (Christopher Plummer) personally teaches the young Alexander (Connor Paolo) and his friends. As teenagers, they would be known as basilikoi paides (“royal boys”) and serve as the king’s ceremonial guard within the kingdom (Diod. XVII, 65, 1) - in Ptolemaic Egypt, a similar institution existed for girls (Polyb. XV, 33, 11).

In general, Ephebes were between 15 and 20 years old and mainly trained in archery, javelin throwing, horse riding and javelin throwing from horseback. Accordingly, their teachers were called Akontistes (“Javelin Throwers”), Toxotes (“Archers”) and Polodamastes (“Tamers of young horses”), as an unpublished ephebarchic law from Amphipolis within the Antigonid kingdom attests (Gauthier-Hatzopoulos 1993, pp. 69; 161-3). Though the inscription dates from 24/23 BC, it likely codifies much older royal legislation (Pleket, Ephebes and Horses 2012, p. 325). Likewise, the laws of Beroia in Macedonia mention archery and javelin throwing. It may come as a surprise that the Ephebes did not train any formation warfare when most of them were destined to serve either in the royal phalanx or the regiment of the Royal Peltasts. It seems as if the tradition, the ritual and religious meaning of the Ephebeia was stronger than any practical concerns (Chankowski, Violence 2017, p. 44).

There is one last aspect of the Macedonian Ephebeia that is represented by this unit, and which might actually be the most intriguing one. In Macedon, Herakles was worshipped as Herakles Kynagidas, “the Hunter”. He was seen as having special connections to the kings in Pella and thus his followers enjoyed certain privileges, too. Among these were the Kynegoi (“Hunters”), teenage boys of Ephebic age who often served in the royal retinue and could be deployed as an elite paramilitary corps (Hatzopoulos, Cults 1994, pp. 88-111). Again, with their focus on hunting, they will have excelled in archery, but also learned horse riding and javelin throwing. Philip V (238-179 BC) eventually judged their petasoi hats and their chlamydes to be too colourful and told them to change their gear to grey black (Boehm, City and Empire 2021, p. 159). A few years later, in 197 BC, he also lowered the minimum age for entering the regular units of the army to 16 years in order to increase the number of his forces (Sekunda 2022). Thus, the peculiarities of the Macedonian Ephebes ceased at the turn of the 2nd century BC - at least for a while: the law of Amphipolis from the time of Augustus cited above shows that they would return to their former ways at some point after the Second Roman Macedonian War had ended in late 197 BC.