Battle of Cunaxa Help

[Diablo Jon]

Really looking for help on the make up of the two armies. Obviously the important parts of Cyrus's army is pretty well documented but what about Artaxerxes II army?

Would Artaxerxes's army still be more like the earlier style Persian armies with Sparabara and bow/spear armed cavalry? Or more like the latter Persian armies with more skirmishing bowmen and slingers, maybe some Cardaces style infantry, would cavalry just be armoured, unshielded and spear armed types of the Macedonian war? I'm guessing most of Artaxerxes's levies would be from the central and eastern parts of the empire?

Any pointers gratefully received

[FierceKitty]

Best clue I can think of is Cyrus' own low estimation of the troops in the royal army. Ironic, really.

[dadlamassu]

I have done a quick google and found (though I have not read):

The Ancient Accounts of the Battle of Cunaxa J. M. Bigwood  https://www.jstor.org/stable/294560

Two Notes on the Battle of Cunaxa https://www.academia.edu/12538735/Two_Notes_on_the_Battle_of_Cunaxa

[Easy E]

The Men of Bronze rulebook has some details to re-fight the battle.

At the moment, the details are escaping me though.   

[Jjonas]

There isn’t much info. There are regular and guard cavalry and Egyptians - claimed to be hoplites but highly unlikely.
Other than those I would fill in with early Achaemenid type troops. But it will have to be speculative.

[Easy E]

Depends on what side you are looking at, but here is what Osprey's Men of Bronze says about it.  You can find the book yourself here: https://ospreypublishing.com/men-of-bronze 

For Cyrus the Younger, we know he obviously recruited Greek Hoplite mercenaries.  He also recruited other Greek mercenaries, probably in the form of archers, slingers, and peltasts.  However, some of those support units may not have been enough to really be their own "unit" on a battle field.  Cyrus himself was using Bactrian Cavalry, and the rest of his army was recruited from Persian natives.  This probably included infantry and light infantry from various satraps and nationalities. 

Artaxerxes had more troops than Cyrus.  He supposedly placed his cavalry in the center of the formation.  That was the traditional place of the Persian king.  These were probably guard cavalry, so pretty skilled.  The rest of his army was made up of troops from the various satrapies.  You can imagine this would include a lot of archers, light troops, and shield and spear infantry as well.  Light cavalry probably played a role, but may have been incorporated into the mass of cavalry around Artaxerxes.   

The Persian line managed to extend itself longer than the rebel line, so there were more of Artaxerxes troops than Cyrus' troops.  This could indicate more light infantry, but the sources are not clear.         

Therefore in the Men of Bronze scenario, Cyrus  has 1 unit of Drilled Hoplites, 1 unit of Peltasts, 1 unit of cavalry, 1 unit of drilled infantry, 1 unit of archers, 1 unit of skirmisher types. Artaxerxes has 1 unit of heavy cavalry, 2 units of drilled infantry, 2 units of archers, and 1 unit of skirmisher types. 

This was based off reading a couple versions of Xenophon, the Robin Waterfield book, a Drucker book,  and a few other sources that escape me at the moment.     

[Jjonas]

Its always a good idea to see what has been done by board wargames research when coming up with a scenario- especially ones that are conjectural.

At least the process gives clues where others ventured first:

GMT Hoplite:
https://bigboardgaming.com/401-b-c-cunaxa/
https://gmtwebsiteassets.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/hoplite/Hoplite_PB_FINAL.pdf

Command and Colors:
https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/maps/43-the-spartan-hegemony-404-362-bc/550-gb14-cunaxa-401-bc.html

Bucellarii website C&C with miniatures:
https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/2020/04/battle-of-cunaxa-401-bc-command-and.html

[FierceKitty]

Chariots are mentioned too.

[Diablo Jon]

Thanks everyone gives me something to work with.

Do we have any idea when the Persians stopped using  Sparabara?

[RSDean]

This was based off reading a couple versions of Xenophon, the Robin Waterfield book, a Drucker book,  and a few other sources that escape me at the moment.   

That would be Xenophon’s Retreat (Belknap Press, 2006)?

[williamb]

The sparabara was still used during the fourth century B.C.  The book "Lost Battles" by Phil Sabin provides an account of the forces at the battle and cites the relevant sections of Xenophon's Anabasis, Diodorus Siculus, and Plutarch's life of Artaxerxes.   Xenophon's Anabasis can be found at the Perseus digital library http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0202
The relevant sections of Xenophon are i.2.9, I.6, I.7.10, I.7.12, I.8.5-7, I.8.24-25, I.9.31, and I.10.12-14
Diodorus can also be found at the Perseus website http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0084
The sections are XIV.19 and 20
Xenophon provides the following numbers of troops at Cunaxa:  10,400 Hoplites, 2,500 peltasts, 200 Cretan archers, 600 guard cavalry, 1000 Paphlagonian cavalry, and other horse under Ariarus for Cyrus.   Diodorus states that Cyrus had 3000 cavalry in three groups of 1000 each.  The numbers for the Asiatic infantry vary from 70,000 to 100,000.
Artaxerxes's army is less defined.   Xenephon I.7.12 gives 3 satraps with 50 scythed chariots and 300,000 men each.  He mentions the Egyptian Hoplites with long wooden shields, gerrhophoroi (another name for the sparabara), and archers.  Xenophon mentions the Satrap Tissaphernes with 500 white-armored horsemen, 6000 horse with Artaxerxes, and another 2000 horse that screened Cyrus's advance.

[Easy E]

That would be Xenophon’s Retreat (Belknap Press, 2006)?

Maybe?   I think it was, but I am not by the book case. 

I was not a huge fan of it, and much preferred Dividing the Spoils about the Diadochi.