Day of Empire_ How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--And Why They Fall - Amy Chua [17]
As the historian Richard Frye puts it, this was likely “the most cosmopolitan crew of workers ever assembled up to that time.”29
Recruiting the best from the empire's diverse peoples was the hallmark strategy of not only Darius but all the Achaemenid kings. The imperial court welcomed Egyptian doctors, Greek scientists, and Babylonian astronomers. According to Greek sources, the Achaemenid kings constantly tried to lure prominent Greek thinkers into their service with promises of great rewards. In 513 BC, when Darius needed a bridge built over the Bosporus to cross into Europe, he chose for the job a Samian architect (from the Greek island of Samos). Three decades later, the Achaemenid king Xerxes ordered two bridges built across the Hellespont (today, the Dardanelles Straits). Xerxes employed specialists from several countries, including “Phoenicians, who spun cables of white linen; and Egyptians, who brought cables made of papyrus.”30
Most crucially, it was only through tolerance that the Achae-menids were able to amass the greatest war machine yet known to man. Under Cyrus the Great, the Persian army initially consisted primarily of Persians and Medes. (The Medes and the Persians were apparently closely related. Indeed, the ancient Greeks and Egyptians often used the terms “Persians” and “Medes” interchangeably.31) At the core of the army were the Ten Thousand Immortals, so named because their numbers never dropped below ten thousand, “a substitute being always ready when one fell sick or was killed.” According to Herodotus, not only were the Immortals “gorgeously clad in gold-decked raiment, but on the march they were permitted to take with them their concubines and servants on wagons, while special food was brought on camels and other baggage animals.” Nine thousand of the Immortals carried spears adorned with silver pomegranates; the remaining thousand, who constituted the king's royal guard, had pomegranates of gold.32
With each new conquest, however, the Achaemenid military engulfed additional units, including entire cavalries, phalanxes, and navies. By the time of Darius, the army was an amazingly diverse multinational force, commanded principally by Persians. Each satrapy supplied its own contingent, which in turn was divided into squads of tens, companies of hundreds, regiments of thousands, and so on. Soldiers wore armor and headdresses, and bore weapons distinctive to their nationality. The Persian infantry carried long bows, short swords, and wicker shields. They wore multicolored tunics over armor, topped with loose felt hats and tiaras. By contrast, the Alarodians wore “wooden helmets;” the Paphlagonians, “plaited helmets;” and the Pisidians, “crested bronze helmets with horns and ears of an ox.” Perhaps in a fashion faux pas, the latter also wore “purple leggings,” giving them “an extraordinary appearance.”33
Every attempt was made to match skill with role. The Achaemenid navy, for example—the source of Persia's tremendous sea power—was dominated by Phoenicians, expert sailors whose ships formed the core of the Persian fleet. The Persians, while not themselves seafaring people, fostered maritime trade and commerce, and Phoenician merchants flourished under Achaemenid rule. So did the Achaemenid rulers, who siphoned off a good share of the commercial profits through customs duties and tolls.34
The Persians drew also on the naval strength of the Egyptians and Greeks. Under Darius, the Ionian admiral Scylax famously sailed down the Indus River to the Indian Ocean and then to Egypt. Darius likely sent out other expeditionary ships