The army of Alexander was an instrument which he inherited from his father Philip. Its core was composed of the Macedonian peasantry who served on foot in heavy armour ("the Foot-companions" [Greek: pezetairoi]). They formed the phalanx, and were divided into 6 brigades ([Greek: taxeis]), probably on the territorial system. Their distinctive arm was the great Macedonian pike (_sarissa_), some 14 ft. long, of further reach than the ordinary Greek spear. They were normally drawn up in more open order than the heavy Greek phalanx, and possessed thereby a mobility and elasticity in which the latter was fatally deficient. Reckoning 1,500 to each brigade, we got a total for the phalanx of 9,000 men. Of higher rank than the _pezetaeri_ were the royal foot-guards ([Greek: basilikoi hypaspistai]), some 3,000 in number, more lightly armed, and distinguished (at any rate at the time of Alexander's death) by silver shields. Of these 1,000 constituted the royal corps ([Greek: to agema to basilikou]). The Macedonian cavalry was recruited from a higher grade of society than the infantry, the _petite noblesse_ of the nation. They bore by old custom the name of the king's Companions ([Greek: hetairoi]), and were distributed into 8 territorial squadrons ([Greek: ilai]) of probably some 250 men each, making a normal total of 2,000. In the cavalry also the most privileged squadron bore the name of the _agema_. The ruder peoples which were neighbors to the Macedonians (Paeonians, Agrianes, Thracians) furnished contingents of light cavalry and javelineers ([Greek: akontistai]). From the Thessalians the Macedonian king, as overlord, drew some thousand excellent troopers. The rest of Alexander's army was composed of Greeks, not formally his subjects. These served partly as mercenaries, partly in contingents contributed by the states in virtue of their alliance. According to Diodorus (xvii. 17, 3) at the time of Alexander's passage into Asia, the mercenaries numbered 5,000, and the troops of the alliance 7,000 foot and 600 horse. All these numbers take no account of the troops left behind in Macedonia, 12,000 foot and 1,500 horse, according to Diodorus. When Alexander was lord of Asia, innovations followed in the army. Already in 330 at Persepolis, the command went forth that 30,000 young Asiatics were to be trained as Macedonian soldiers (the _epigoni_, Arr. vii., 6, 1). Contingents of the fine Bactrian cavalry followed Alexander into India. Persian nobles were admitted into the _agema_ of the Macedonian cavalry. A far more radical remodelling of the army was undertaken at Babylon in 323, by which the old phalanx system was to be given up for one in which the unit was to be composed of Macedonians with pikes and Asiatics with missile arms in combination--a change calculated to be momentous both from a military point of view in the coming wars, and from a political, in the close fusion of Europeans and Asiatics. The death of Alexander interrupted the scheme, and his successors reverted to the older system. In the wars of Alexander the phalanx was never the most active arm; Alexander delivered his telling attacks with his cavalry, whereas the slow-moving phalanx held rather the position of a reserve, and was brought up to complete a victory when the cavalry charges had already taken effect. Apart from the pitched battles, the warfare of Alexander was largely hill-fighting, in which the _hypaspistae_ took the principal part, and the contingents of light-armed hillmen from the Balkan region did excellent service. Entry: 5
The cavalry were heavy-armed like the hoplites except that they carried a smaller shield, or, more usually, none at all. They were armed with a lance which they wielded freely (i.e. not "in rest") and occasionally threw. The Macedonian cavalry had a [Greek: sarissa]. The light-armed ([Greek: gymnaetes, psiloi]) were (1) [Greek: akontistai], armed with a javelin (3 to 5 ft. long) and a small shield; (2) [Greek: toxotai], archers; and (3) [Greek: sphendonaetai], slingers, whose missiles were balls of lead, stones and hardened clay pellets. Between the heavy and the light armed were the peltasts. The _pelta_, from which they took the name, was a light shield or target, made of skin or leather on a wooden or wickerwork frame. The Athenian Iphicrates armed them with linen corslet and a larger spear and sword than those of the hoplites; he also invented a new footgear (called after him _iphicratides_) to replace the older greaves. Entry: 4