#WAR OF THE IMMORTALS WIKI PROFESSIONAL#

The headdress worn by the Immortals is believed to have been the Persian tiara. The regiment was followed by a caravan of covered carriages, camels, and mules that transported their supplies, along with concubines and attendants to serve them this supply train carried special food that was reserved only for their consumption. The spear counterbalances of the common soldiery were of silver to differentiate commanding ranks, the officers' spear butt-spikes were golden. Herodotus, instead, describes their armament as follows: wicker shields covered in leather, short spears, quivers, swords or large daggers, slings, bow and arrow. Xenophon (Cyropaedia 6.4.1 7.1.2) describes the guard of Cyrus the Great as having bronze breastplates and helmets, while their horses wore bronze chamfrons and peitrels together with shoulder pieces which also protected the rider's thighs. Some scholars speculate that they represent the Immortals. Median (left) and Persian (right) warriors in their ceremonial dress, carvings at Persepolis. It is suggested that Herodotus' informant has confused the word anГ»ЕЎiya- ('companion') with anauЕЎa- ('immortal'), but this theory has been criticized by Rudiger Schmidt. These do not however record the name of 'Immortals'. There is evidence of the existence of a permanent corps from Persian sources, which provided a backbone for the tribal levies who made up the bulk of the Achaemenid armies. This elite corps is only called the 'Immortals' in sources based on Herodotus. The Persian denomination of the unit is uncertain. He stated that the unit's name stemmed from the custom that every killed, seriously wounded, or sick member was immediately replaced with a new one, maintaining the corps as a cohesive entity with a constant strength.

#WAR OF THE IMMORTALS WIKI PROFESSIONAL#

Herodotus describes the 'Immortals' as being heavy infantry, led by Hydarnes it provided the professional corps of the Persian armies and was kept constantly at a strength of exactly 10,000 men. Modern reconstruction of the Immortals in their ceremonial dress at the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire

War of the immortals wiki