Leukaspides
Spearmen Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
The second regiment of the Antigonid phalanx is recruited from the fringes of the kingdom and can be recognised by their bright, white shields.
Description
The Leukaspides ("White Shields") appear as the second corps of the Antigonid Phalanx from the late 3rd century BC on. Plutarch (Life of Kleomenes, 23,1) attests their presence at the Battle of Sellasia in 222 BC, where they fought against the Spartan Helots that had been armed in the manner of the Macedonian Phalanx. This implies that the Leukaspides were seen as the weaker part of the Antigonid pikemen and they were possibly less armoured than the Chalkaspides, who wore kottybos armour and a sort of padded linen vest - only the front ranks were equipped with hermithorax. Maybe the Leukaspides had to do without the hermithorax, but their weaker equipment might only refer to the early days of the unit. As a recent article convincingly argued, Antigonos III Doson had probably recruited them from the Thraco-Macedonian inhabitants east of Mygdonia and from other population groups at the fringes of the kingdom to increase the manpower of his phalanx. By the 2nd century, they might have become virtually unrecognisable from the Chalkaspides.