>> the other direction - and replaced its original hoplite army by a
>> force comprised mostly of Persian-style sparabara troops.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>So what are these like?
Pretty much as I described: the front rank of troops hold huge wicker shields - sparabara is Persian for shield-bearer - to shelter the lines of archers massed behind them. A search found a picture on-line at:
http://www2.one.net.au/~mjdrury/page4.html
which also contains lots more information about Persian organisation. Apparently, other units did have a higher proportion of spearmen (the front 3 or 4 ranks, out of 10 total) as described for the Dara Happan army.
Stephen
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