Hypaspists
Sign in to saveright|thumb|220px|Ancient depiction of a Macedonian infantryman (right). He is equipped with an Argive shield, so probably is a Hypaspist. He also wears a linothorax cuirass and a [[Thracian helmet. Alexander Sarcophagus.]] thumb|upright=1.5|A Hypaspist|alt= A hypaspist ( "shield bearer" or "shield covered") is a squire, man at arms, or "shield carrier". In Homer's Iliad, Deiphobos advances "" () or under cover of his shield. By the time of Herodotus (426 BC), the word had come to mean a high status soldier as is strongly suggested by Herodotus in one of the earliest known uses:
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Macedonian hypaspists
- See also
- References
- Further reading
right|thumb|220px|Ancient depiction of a Macedonian infantryman (right). He is equipped with an Argive shield, so probably is a Hypaspist. He also wears a linothorax cuirass and a [[Thracian helmet. Alexander Sarcophagus.]] thumb|upright=1.5|A Hypaspist|alt= A hypaspist ( "shield bearer" or "shield covered") is a squire, man at arms, or "shield carrier". In Homer's Iliad, Deiphobos advances "" () or under cover of his shield. By the time of Herodotus (426 BC), the word had come to mean a high status soldier as is strongly suggested by Herodotus in one of the earliest known uses:
A similar usage occurs in Euripides's play Rhesus and another in his Phoenissae. Xenophon was deserted by his hypaspist in a particularly sticky situation. A hypaspist would differ from a skeuophoros in most cases because the "shield bearer" is a free warrior and the "baggage carrier" was a servant.