The Strategos

by H A CULLEY

  As Parmenion had feared, he was deprived of his position as strategos as soon as Ptolemy became regent. What the latter hadn’t anticipated was that Perdiccas would insist on the former strategos becoming one of his Companions. The post of epihipparchos of the Companion cavalry had already been filled by one of Ptolemy’s supporters, but the new king insisted on making Parmenion a lochagos. It was a significant demotion but it was one that he was happy to accept. As he suspected that Ptolemy was behind the assassination of Alexander, he had no intention of allowing the same thing to happen to his brother. That meant staying close to him.

  In due course Perdiccas created a royal bodyguard within the Companions, called the Somatophylakes, and put Parmenion in command. Each somatophylax took it in turns to act as royal food taster and Parmenion’s men were always the inner ring of protection around the king on public occasions. They also provided the sentries outside his door and guarded the approaches to it. Parmenion was certain that Ptolemy would have a hard time killing Perdiccas now, even if he wanted to.

  In fact the regent was fairly happy with the situation as it was. Only two things concerned him – Eurydice’s annoying insistence on trying to share power with him and the fact that Perdiccas would come of age in just over two years’ time.

  The situation didn’t change for a year, though Ptolemy found that Eurydice’s attempts to share the rule of Macedon with him were getting increasingly annoying. Although Perdiccas had a food taster, Eurydice didn’t and her ambitious husband started to consider poisoning her.

  Then, in the early summer of 366 BC, Pausanius managed to gather together enough mercenaries from Thrace and Chalkidike to launch another invasion. Ptolemy immediately started to muster the citizens of Macedon to take the field against him. However, he found that he didn’t seem to be as popular as once he had been. Rumours had started to circulate about the death of Alexander and, given the power that Ptolemy had now gathered into his own hands, there was a certain credibility to the allegation that he had planned it in order to secure the regency. Men were therefore reluctant to serve under his command.

  With Philip a hostage in Thebes and Perdiccas seen as ineffectual, many nobles saw Pausanius as the best contender for the throne and several hundred nobles and leading citizens decided to join him. Ptolemy became seriously worried and, in his desperation, turned to his erstwhile rival, Parmenion, for help.

  ‘Ptolemy, you asked to see me?’ Parmenion enquired stiffly.

  ‘Yes, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye in the past…’ the regent began.

  ‘You have always treated me like an adversary and done your best to discredit and belittle me. It’s hardly a question a question of mere disagreement,’ Parmenion shot back.

  ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that.’ Ptolemy rubbed his hand over his face, indicating how tired he was. ‘I think we all need to pull together now. I know that you are not a Macedonian by birth…’

  Once again Parmenion interrupted him. ‘I might not be, but I have always been loyal to Macedon and its royal house ever since I arrived here fifteen years ago. Neither I nor Orestes have ever given you cause to doubt our loyalty.’

  Ptolemy knew what he said was true. He studied the man standing rigidly to attention before him. Still in his early thirties, Parmenion stood several inches taller than most men. His face, framed by a neatly trimmed black beard, was oval in shape with a slightly pointed jaw and a surprisingly small nose. His eyes were light blue and, in his olive complexion, were quite striking. That, coupled with the steely determination that characterized his face most of the time, meant that he could subdue most men with a look. Ptolemy began to feel uncomfortable as they regarded each other and was the first to look away.

  ‘Look, I want you to assume your old position as strategos. I now realise that my choice for that position was a bad one and I need to get the army sorted out and deployed to counter Pausanius’ advance into Macedon. He has already taken three provinces in the east of the country.’

  ‘Very well; I accept, on two conditions. Orestes is to take my place in command of the Somatophylakes and I am to be given a free hand to run the army without interference from you or your wife.’

  Ptolemy stiffened, offended. ‘Surely my advice would be invaluable to you.’

  ‘No, you’re wrong. You may be a cunning politician, Ptolemy, but you’re not cut out for military command.’

  Ptolemy flushed with anger and was on the point of having Parmenion arrested, but he knew that he needed him - for the moment. Once Pausanius was dealt with, he would have Parmenion and his friend Orestes quietly killed.

  He tried to put a smile on his face, but it looked more like a grimace.

  ‘Very well, Parmenion. You have a free hand. Don’t let me down.’

  ‘It’s King Perdiccas that I’ll be serving, Ptolemy, not you.’

  With that he saluted and left the room.

  -o0o-

  Epaminondas was fighting for his political life. His enemies in the Theban Assembly accused him of failing the city yet again as many of his former allies deserted Thebes and either allied themselves with Athens or with Sparta. Even Thessaly had revolted against Theban domination and Epaminondas had been forced to help Pelopidas to subdue the unrest.

  Far from being able to join his fellow Boeotarch in the Peloponnese, Pelopidas had been unable to leave Thessaly, and now both of them and most of the Theban army were engaged on putting down the revolt. Epaminodas defeated the Thessalonian faction who had risen up against Thebes and returned to his home city expecting to be greeted as a hero. However, he was in for a nasty shock.

  Boeotarchs were elected for a year at a time and, although there were seven of them, Epaminondas wasn’t elected for a further term after his return from Thessaly. Pelopidas took his place as the senior Boeotarch and he now called a peace conference, inviting the Persian king, Artaxerxes, to act as chairman for the negotiations. It seemed that everything that Epaminondas had achieved had been for nothing.

  Philip tried to analyse where Epaminondas had gone wrong and he came to the conclusion that, whilst he had succeeded on the battlefield, his failure had been political. His support for a mode of government that his allies regarded as alien had been ill-advised. Thebes was ruled by an oligarchy and they believed that this would best serve the interests of their allies too. Unfortunately oligarchies were detested by those city states who had formerly embraced democracy.

  As soon as the democrats had overthrown the oligarchs, the city states in question had withdrawn from the confederation set up by Epaminondas. Philip was getting a valuable lesson on the realities of political power and well as a military education.

  The peace negotiated by Araxerxes didn’t last long. As soon as Pelopidas had succeeded in finally bringing Thessaly back into the Boeotian League, Epaminondas was ordered to prepare for a fourth invasion of the Peloponnese. However, by the time he was ready Philip was no longer a hostage in Thebes.

  -o0o-

  Parmenion immediately started to reorganise the Macedonian army. In addition to the thousand members of the Companion cavalry and the cavalry epihipparchia made up of those citizens who could provide their own horses, he raised a further mounted epihipparchia with horses provided by the king. Macedon now had three thousand cavalry, twice as many as the enemy were reported to have.

  Next he turned his attention to the hoplites. One of the problems was that each citizen provided his own armour and weapons. This meant that their spears varied in length from eight to twelve feet, depending individual preference. As a result, the row of three points at the front of each chiliarchy was inconsistent and those with the shorter spears were fairly useless, at least as far as killing the enemy before he could use his own spear was concerned.

  He decided that the Macedonian treasury would have to find the money to pay for new shafts on which to fit the existing points of the shorter spears. As he had anticipated, he had been forced to have a blazing row with Ptolemy and threaten to resign
before the man agreed. It was only because Eurydice had seen the sense of Parmenion’s logic that Ptolemy had finally given way. He left the meeting with the distinct impression that any spark of love that might have existed between the two regents had long since been extinguished.

  His original padded linothrax had been replaced several times but even the latest version was looking tired and filthy. In any case, whilst it was worn by many hoplites and even some junior officers, it was not really in keeping with his new status as Strategos of Macedon. His helmet also needed replacing and he decided to have a Corinthian style bronze helmet made with a transverse crest. This task wasn’t something that he could delegate and so, accompanied by Orestes and two guards he set off for the agora and the armourers’ workshops that lined one of the side streets leading away from it.

  He had visited three workshops but hadn’t found what he was looking for at what he considered a fair price. No doubt they thought the new strategos would be too proud to haggle; that was their mistake. In the fourth smithy he found a bear of a man covered in hair and wearing a short woolen exomis and an apron made of leather. He was busy making a sword out of iron and Parmenion watched him working the metal into the right shape, fascinated by the process.

  The smith was assisted by a young lad, similarly clad and with his hair bound up in a cloth. Parmenion was struck but the beauty of the boy, which shone through the grime and sweat on his face. This worried him more than somewhat. Unlike many of his friends, he had never been attracted to a boy. The guards had waited outside but Orestes had accompanied him inside the workshop. He noticed the rapt expression on his friend’s face as he watched the smith’s apprentice and grinned to himself.

  ‘Don’t worry, strategos, you’re not suddenly turning into a boy lover; she’s a girl.’

  ‘What, are you sure? How can you tell?’

  ‘Well, the curve of her ass and the things pushing out the front of her exomis are pretty good clues.’

  Now that Orestes mentioned them, Parmenion could see that the body was female, although she hadn’t yet developed from a young girl into a woman. Her breasts were small and her hips slim. He laughed. He just hadn’t expected to find a girl working inside a smithy.

  The smith quenched the hot iron blade and suddenly noticed that he had customers. He smiled and put the sword down.

  ‘Welcome to my humble shop, gentlemen. What can I do for you today? Kharis, go and fetch refreshments for our honoured guests.’

  Such insincere sales patter coming out of the mouth of the hirsute giant of a man struck Parmenion as faintly ludicrous and he had to stop himself from laughing. He daren’t look at Orestes, who he knew was also trying to contain his merriment.

  ‘Thank you, master armourer, that would be kind. Just water though. I need a new bronze cuirass and a helmet.’

  When he said that he wanted an embossed Argead Star, symbol of royal house of Macedon, on the breastplate and a transverse red and black horsehair crest on the helmet, the man looked at him sharply and looked uncomfortable.

  ‘Are you sure? Only the royal family and certain very senior officers are allowed to use the Argead Star.’ He swallowed nervously before continuing. ‘And a transverse red and black crest is usually the mark of a strategos.’

  At this Orestes burst out laughing. ‘That’s cut you down to size, Parmenion; he obviously doesn’t recognise you.’

  At that moment the girl re-entered the shop carrying two goblets of rose water and some small cakes on a tray. She caught the end of this and dropped the tray, bringing her hand to her mouth. Her father looked equally stunned.

  ‘Forgive me, strategos. As your friend said, I didn’t recognize you. I’m so sorry.’

  The superficial veneer of the salesman had gone, replace by a man terrified that he had insulted one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. Parmenion smiled.

  ‘There’s nothing to forgive. I didn’t want you to know who I was because your fellow armourers seemed to think that my position gave them an excuse to charge me extortionate prices.’

  ‘I would never do that. I’ll charge you the same as any other man.’

  Parmenion was acutely conscious that the girl, Kharis, was still regarding him with awe. He tried to smile reassuringly at her, hoping that it didn’t come across as a leer, and then he knelt down to pick up the goblets and the tray. She suddenly realised what he was doing and hastily knelt down herself to help him. Their hands touched as they both reached for one of the cakes and to Parmenion it felt as if he had been stung by a hornet, except that the shock of contact had been extremely pleasurable. Kharis also jumped at the touch and then smiled shyly at Parmenion.

  The armourer frowned at the soft expression on his daughter’s face as she got up and then he noticed that the strategos had the same stupid look on his face. For a moment he allowed himself to think that Parmenion might be interested in Kharis, then he grew concerned as he realised that the man probably just wanted a night’s fun with her.

  His previous obsequiousness quickly changed to worry and then anger in quick succession. He measured Parmenion and gave him a high quote for the work, despite the assurance he had given earlier, hoping that would be the last he and Kharis would see of him.

  To his surprise, and annoyance, Parmenion accepted the quote and told him he would return in two days for the first fitting. The man nodded brusquely but Parmenion hardly noticed. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Kharis, who was blushing like the innocent maiden she was.

  Orestes had noticed everything, however, and as they walked away from the agora he decided to warn his friend.

  ‘The armourer thinks you want to bed his daughter.’

  ‘Well, I do; he’s got that right. I don’t think I’ve met a more adorable creature.’

  ‘Yes, I can see you’re smitten; you’re grinning like a dog in heat. But he thinks you’re after a night of pleasure and then you’ll forget her.’

  ‘Oh, no. I need to think about it, and get to know her better, but I think I’ve found my true love.’

  ‘Huh, I never thought to see the great strategos laid low by a pretty face.’

  ‘Yes, she had a pretty face, a very pretty face, doesn’t she? By Neptune’s trident I was really worried when I thought she was a boy!’

  ‘If you think that your interest might turn out to be serious, I think I had better go back and re-assure the poor man. He’s probably taking his feelings out a mangled bit of bronze that’s intended to be your cuirass as we speak.’

  ‘You’re right, thanks Orestes. Invite him and his family to eat with us tonight, and assure him that my intentions are entirely honorable.’

  Finally Parmenion was ready and he mustered his three thousand cavalry, five thousand hoplites and two thousand peltasts before setting out towards Thermes, an eastern Macedonian city near the border with Thrace that Pausanius had recently captured. He and Kharis had seen each other several times before he left, each time chaperoned by her rather formidable mother, and each time Parmenion fell more and more in love. He quickly learned that Kharis was no simpering little girl. She was sixteen but much more mature than most girls her age. Her interests lay outside the home, which was why she had persuaded her father to allow her to help him in the workshop, and even extended to strategy. She knew little about it at first but she was a quick learner and the speed with which she grasped military concepts convinced Parmenion that she wasn’t just pretending to be interested. However, he had to put her from his mind for now. He needed to concentrate on defeating Pausanius.

  When he neared Thermes he split his army in two, sending a thousand peltasts, two thousand hoplites and a thousand cavalry under Orestes’ command to loop round to the north through the hills along the border. He had no intention of allowing Pausanius to escape this time.

  The enemy army was drawn up on the plain outside the city when Parmenion arrived. Evidently the reports that the city had fallen were incorrect and all the signs were that Pausanius had broken off t
he siege on learning of the Macedonians’ approach. Parmenion studied the enemy ranks. The formation was classic with the peltasts in front as skirmishers, the hoplites drawn up in what appeared to five blocks of a thousand and the cavalry in the rear. Of the latter, there appeared to be a thousand light horsemen from Thrace and a thousand Greek heavy cavalry.

  Although Parmenion was outnumbered he had several surprises in store for Pausanius and he was confident of victory, but he was in no rush to engage the enemy. First he wanted to know where Orestes was and he needed time to demoralize the enemy. The latter had been standing out in the hot sun for several hours and, although his men had just marched for six miles, they had taken a break during the march and were now resting in the shade of the various olive and fruit trees that dotted this end of the valley. They were therefore much fresher.

  Seeing the Macedonians lounging around in the shade, drinking water from the streams that irrigated the orchards and olive groves whilst his men sweated, Pausanius decided to attack whilst the enemy was unprepared. His peltasts had just started to move forward when the Macedonians began to form up. Parmenion had just received word from a messenger that Orestes was in position.

  To Pausanius’s amazement Parmenion sent his cavalry forward with the Macedonian peltasts, walking their horses forward on each flank. He was uncertain what to do. He had never heard of deploying cavalry at the start of a battle; they were usually kept in reserve to chase and destroy a routed enemy or exploit a weakness created by the hoplites.

  The level ground was ideal cavalry country and, as soon as the peltasts began to engage one another, the cavalry on the flanks charged into the mass of Pausanius’ peltasts. They were a mixture of Thracians, Chalkidikean and Greek mercenaries and owed little loyalty to Pausanius. Within fifteen minutes they had been routed and started to flee northwards towards the hills and, so they supposed, safety.