Chapter 15 Conditions of Service and Indiscipline in Macedonian Armies, 359–323 BCE

In: Brill's Companion to the Campaigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great
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Lee L. Brice
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Abstract

The men who fought for Philip II and Alexander III of Macedon were not automatons. They were soldiers who experienced a variety of service conditions in the military. Some conditions were terms of enlistment/recruitment and provided by the Macedonian king including, pay, discipline, rewards, length of service, leave, and discharge/retirement. Other conditions were a result of service in the field, including camaraderie, community, wounds, stress, trauma, exhaustion, and plunder. This chapter discusses these aspects of military service experienced by the soldiers serving with Philip and Alexander between 359 and 323. The chapter will also address how service conditions contributed to outbreaks of indiscipline in Philip’s and Alexander’s armies. Such military unrest is a predictable potential problem in armies dependent on discipline for success, such as the Macedonian phalanx. In addition to examining different kinds of indiscipline and its causes the author will address the resolution of such incidents. Due to our sources the chapter will necessarily lean more heavily on Alexander’s reign than Philip’s.

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