Chalkaspides () is a poetic term used by writers of Koine Greek to refer to a Macedonian phalanx. The most notable group called chalkaspides was the main phalanx force of the Antigonid Macedonian army in the Hellenistic period. The group were hoplites who fought in phalanx formation using long sarissas and bronze shields, either a pelta or an aspis. They may have been supplemented by another Antigonid force called the Leukaspides ("White Shields") when more manpower was necessary, although the leukaspides are less well-attested to in ancient sources. The leukaspides may have been very similar
Chalkaspides () is a poetic term used by writers of Koine Greek to refer to a Macedonian phalanx. The most notable group called chalkaspides was the main phalanx force of the Antigonid Macedonian army in the Hellenistic period. The group were hoplites who fought in phalanx formation using long sarissas and bronze shields, either a pelta or an aspis. They may have been supplemented by another Antigonid force called the Leukaspides ("White Shields") when more manpower was necessary, although the leukaspides are less well-attested to in ancient sources. The leukaspides may have been very similar to the chalkaspides and also fought as a phalanx, or they might be a term for non-Macedonian allies and mercenaries who used wooden thyreos shields rather than the bronze pelta.
King Antigonus Doson armed the citizens of Megalopolis as "Bronze Shields" for the Sellasia campaign in 222 BC. These units fought in the various Macedonian Wars against the Roman Republic. Plutarch records 1,200 wagons filled with bronze shields taken as spoils after the Roman victory at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, presumably from the defeated chalkaspides.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).