Together, these troops were the mainstay of infantry for Alexander and Philip’s infantry- and this hasn’t changed. Wielding pikes of 14-18 feet, the foot companions provided a stable and effective infantry line that was supported by lighter armed infantry- the Hypaspists.
The Macedonian Infantry- Pezhetairoi (The Foot Companions) were the backbone of the Macedonian infantry. As for its naval capacity, Macedon has long relied on its city-state allies for its navy. Philip II established the model Macedonian army, based primarily upon the Sarissa (Pike) wielding Phalangite and the famed Companion and Thessalian cavalry. With the armies of Macedon, Alexander conquered the known world. To the west, Epirus is weakened by a disastrous conflict against some upstart Italian power across the sea known as Rome. Barbarians prowl the north and east, probing for weakness, and whilst while much of Greece to the south is theoretically under the Macedonian Yoke there are angry mutterings in these once proud city-states. With power now resting with the grandson of Antipater, Antigonus II, and the kingdom stabilised under his rule, Macedon looks to extend its borders once more and regain its position as a powerful Kingdom. After Antipater and his son Cassander died, the Kingdom slipped into a period of civil war, its borders shrinking to that of Philip II’s reign once more. However, when Alexander died and he left no heir capable of holding his empire together, it separated into various smaller successor states – with Antipater inheriting the Kingdom of Macedon. Who conquered the known world with the formidable army he inherited from his father Philip II. He bequeathed this kingdom to his son, Alexander III, or Alexander the Great. Macedon has become a powerful nation on the world stage, brought out of its state of powerlessness by the herculean efforts of Philip II, who became first regent and then King in a kingdom of so-called goat herders and transformed it into a powerful nation of cities and warriors.
Once a backwards kingdom, suffering frequent invasions and subject to humiliation from Persians and Greeks alike. “They were not aware, he said, that the Macedonian sun had not yet altogether set.” Philip threatens the Greek Thessalians, Diodorus, 29.16.1-2
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