by needswall Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:50 pm
Right, I had to Google / Wikipedia this one. If I were from a society that had dedicated Hoplites (such as the Spartans) then that would be the way to go, as excellent soldiers (although not a standing army, they were more soldiers than their other trades - blacksmith, carpenter, etc.), however some Hoplites are weekend warriors, the historical version of a modern day member of the Territorial Army (and not saying anything bad about that before someone gets defensive, just not full time soldiers). The Persian Immortals appear to have been a standing army (full time soldiers) however the reason they were called the immortals is they were kept constantly at a strength of exactly 10,000 men. Their leader claimed that the unit's name originated because of the custom that every killed, seriously wounded or sick member was immediately replaced with a new one, and it appeared to be an army that could not be killed. Sounds rather expendable to me... Long answer made short, I would rather be a Greek Hoplite.
Would you rather take a kick in the nuts once a day for the next 30 days (total of 30 kicks to the nuts with no long term side effects, just pain) or 10 kicks to the nuts over the next 2 years, but you never know when its gonna happen.