Terrifying facts and secrets about the immortal Persians
“Who are the immortal Persians?
It is a name given by Herodotus to a special force of soldiers that fought on behalf of the Achaemenid Empire. This force played several roles such as the imperial guard and the standing army during the expansion of the Persian Empire and during the Greco-Persian wars. You may have heard while watching the legendary movie 300 that one of the Persian forces summoned by Xerxes I To fight the Greeks they were called immortals.
Herodotus describes the Immortals as a heavy infantry force that was under the command of the general Hydarnes and always remained with a strength of ten thousand men.
He claimed that the name of the unit came from its habit of replacing any sick, seriously injured, or killed warrior with a new one immediately, thus maintaining the unit’s population and cohesion, although many details related to it (including the original name) remain unknown due to the loss of many original historical documents. .
This special unit was only called "Immortals" in sources based on Herodotus, and while there is evidence of their presence in Persia, they are not mentioned by that name and it is possible that Herodotus confused the name "Anochia" (companions) with "Anaosha" (immortals). ). However, the German researcher Rüdiger Schmidt criticizes this hypothesis.
»History of the Immortal Persians:
The Immortals played an important role in Cyrus the Great's campaign against the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 547 BC, in Cambyses' campaign against Egypt in 525 BC and in Darius the Great's campaign against the minor border kingdoms of western India (western Punjab and Sindh, now in Pakistan), and Scythia in 520. BC and 513 BC.
The Immortals participated in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, and were among the Persian forces invading Greece in 479 BC under Mardonius.
Immortals
» Equipment of the Immortal Persian Army:
Herodotus describes their armament as follows:
braided shields, short spears, large swords or daggers and a bow and arrow, under their cloaks they wore coats with scaled shields, the spear counterweights of the common soldier were made of silver, the officers' spears were weighted with gold so that honorary ranks might be marked, and the regiment was followed by a convoy of covered wagons, camels and mules which Their equipment was transported in addition to female slaves and companions to serve them, and this convoy carried special supplies of food that had been specially provided for them.
It is believed that the immortals wore Persian crowns on their heads, and its exact form is not known, but some sources describe it as a cloth or felt hat that could be placed on the face to keep away the wind and dust in the arid Persian plains. The carved frieze and colored bricks remaining from the Achaemenid period show that the immortals wore elaborate gowns, earrings and gold jewelry, but it appears that these clothes and accessories were only worn on ritual occasions.
The Sassanid army restored the title of “the Immortals.” Among the army units, the most famous was the Zaydan “Immortals” division, which numbered ten thousand men, like their Achaemenid predecessors. They differed in that they were cavalry, and their mission was mainly to secure any breakthroughs and enter the battles in the decisive stages.
The title of "Immortals" was restored twice during the Byzantine Empire, first as an elite heavy cavalry unit under John Zemsky (969 - 976) and later by Nikvorets, chief minister of Emperor Michael VII (1071 - 1081), as the core of the new central field army, after Huge defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.
Several centuries later, during the Napoleonic Wars, French soldiers referred to Napoleon's Imperial Guard as "the Immortals".
The modern Iranian army under the last Shah included the all-volunteer Javidan Guard, also known as the "Immortals" after the ancient Persian royal guard.
The Khaledin headquarters was located in the Laozan Barracks in Tehran, and by 1978 this special force included a brigade consisting of 4,000-5,000 men, and included a chief tank battalion. After the fall of the imperial regime in 1979, this division was disbanded.
»In popular culture:
Herodotus's record of two elite warriors - the Spartan hoplites and the Immortals - facing each other in battle has inspired many battle quotes, especially regarding the Immortals.
Immortal Persians
In the 1962 film "The Three Hundred Spartans" the Immortals are shown carrying a spear and a braided shield like the real Immortals, but they are shown wearing black uniforms and other dark colors, as opposed to the historical image.
In Frank Miller's 1998 comic story 300, and the 2007 feature film adaptation, the Immortals appear in a highly fictionalized form at the Battle of Thrombell, with the Immortals appearing as demons, wearing metal masks resembling those of Japanese samurai, and carrying a pair of swords resembling Japanese wakizashi swords.
In the History Channel documentary, The Three Hundred Last Pause, the immortals also appear as part of the reconstruction of the Battle of Thrombell. In this version, the crown that the immortals used to wear appears here as a black cloth mask that covers the entire face. It is transparent enough to see through.
Source: websites