WARFARE OF ANTIQUITY. 7 



light and small, usually of the crescent form, and painted {jig. 56). The 

 Phrygians belonging to the heavy infantry had short woollen tabards (jig. 

 46), usually embroidered in rich patterns, and often covered also with metal 

 rings. Their helmets, of which ^^^5. 47 and 48 give examples, were imita- 

 tions of the Phrygian cap, of buffalo leather, gaily painted, with a crest and 

 neck-piece to deaden descending blows, and with cheek-pieces ; frequently 

 they were surmounted by a horse-tail. As indeed the whole equipment of 

 the Phrygians displays superior elegance, so this appears also in their cres- 

 cent-shaped shields of buffalo-hide, painted and adorned with iron rings 

 (Jig. 50), and in their bows and quivers {Jig. 49). The Phrygian battle- 

 axes {jigs. 51-54) were light, sometimes long, sometimes short, and often 

 with a point for thrusting. The axe was their chief weapon, and was 

 usually broad-headed on one side, but narrowed to a point on the other, 

 that it might smite through helm and shield. 



The Military Systems of Macedonia and Greece. The Macedonians 

 and Greeks owing their existence to war, and involved constantly in 

 hostilities on one side or another, were compelled to perpetual vigilance 

 as to the perfection of their military force. Hence we find among them, 

 at a very early period, a completely organized army and a peculiar tactic, 

 which were so much the more necessary as the Greeks were not in a 

 condition to maintain a very numerous force, and were, therefore, usually 

 obliged to encounter their enemies with greatly inferior numbers, an 

 inequality to be counterbalanced only by superior intelligence. Thus on 

 the plain of Marathon fought scarcely 10,000 Athenians. Great armies 

 were formed only by the union of several states ; and at the battle of Plataea, 

 where perhaps the largest Grecian army was collected, were numbered 

 lllyOOO men, of whom, however, only 38,000 were heavy armed, and of 

 the light armed 37,000 were Spartan helots. 



Grecian warfare, and therewith the formation of their military system, may 

 be divided into three periods. The first is that of the Persian war ; the 

 second, that of the Peloponnesian or internal war of the Greeks to the time 

 of Philip ; and the third, that of the Macedonian, Achaian, and iEtolian 

 wars, in which period fall the wars of Alexander the Great and the war 

 with Rome. The expeditions of the Greeks before the Persian contest 

 belong to the mythic age, and then, as indeed also in the commencement 

 of the historical, Grecian warfare was in its infancy. The Grecian heroes 

 still fought naked, though well armed {pi. 2, jig. 1). Of the wars of the 

 mythic age, we shall mention only the Theban and the Trojan. The 

 traditions which the poets give of these show that here only rude strength 

 was brought into play, and even that so imperfectly guided, that the desired 

 result was attained only after a long period, sometimes not at all, or by 

 means of single combats, which were regarded as a kind of divine decision. 

 Thus the Theban war terminated bv the duel between two brothers, in 

 which both fell, not to mention other single combats of similar character. 



When Greece, however, was assailed by external foes, the Greeks held 

 fast and firm together, and the greatest men of Greece devoted themselves 

 to the organization of her warfare. They began to carry on war systemati- 



483 



