"Where in a hellenistic unit did the standard bearer stand?" Topic

I know in a wargame unit we usually put the leader, standard, and musician in the centre, but historically, did the standard bearer stand in the centre, the right corner, or the left corner?

Thanks.

Being that a standard is the unit 'rallying point' it would surely be in the centre along with the senior 'fighting' unit officer.

Throughout the history of war, standards have been placed in the front rank, to the rear, or mid ranks, but as far as I'm aware, standards have always been more or less in the 'linear' middle of a deployment.

You know, though, having done some formation changes, counter-marching, and so forth in a reenactment unit that focused on historical methods (at least a lot more than was the norm for the SCA), it would make some sense for the standard (if there was one – we didn't use one) to be on the corner of the unit – probably the front-right corner. I seem to recall that that was the one position in the phalanx (well, micro-phalanx, as there were at most 32 of us) that was effectively stationary relative to the remainder.

Doug

Very little is known about them. For years, they were thought not to have them, so when reference to standard bearers (semeiophoroi) does start to appear it has been taken as evidence of Romanisation.
This

shows a standard which seems to be associated by the pike but it may be no more than the artist using a cavalry banner to indicate the Seleucids.

I would have thought in the same place as the commander, still done to this day. I learned through bitter experience to either carry the heavy radio myself (best option) or have one of my best men as signaller and have him surgically attached so he always repeated orders over the net exactly as said to him. Imagine in a large phalanx having the standard bearer (assuming signals were relayed by flag and trumpet) getting messages via Chinese whispers, also assuming that battles were a bit noisy and would rely on visual signals.

Would standard beaters actually be used in a pike unit? Considering where all the pikes were opinions and leveled I can see a standard held high being nothing but a detriment.
I can also see it being useless to rally a broken pike unit. Once it breaks it's gone.

But they look so good on the table.
My Swiss pikemen have lots of banners.

My personal belief is that the standards in a Macedonian army were used to identify the unit, and not as a communications device. The orders were done by voice, but also by trumpeters. Much is written about the Macedonians keeping absolutely quiet, even unnerving some of their opponents.

That being said, a trumpet would carry much further than a human voice. If each trumpet had a special signal, say a certain number of beats like a Morse dot/dash system, then that could identify the unit for which the next or following command was given. There is precedence for this, albeit much later.

Considering that, then it would be useful for a commander to be able to identify a unit at a distance, especially if there is a cloud of dust being stirred up by several thousand pikemen. A standard with a distinctive symbol or design for each unit would be VERY useful, and it would be able to be seen among the pikes as well.

That being said, either in the middle, or in the rear seems to me to be the position, but that's only my own opinion.

V/R

"The Tactics of Aelian" plate 3 provides the location of all officers, musicians, standards, etc. for the 256+5 man syntagma (16 files of 16 men plus five extras). The overall commander is at the front of the right file. The trumpeter, standard bearer, herald, and aide form a 2x2 group to his right and the fifth extra who is the rear commander is at the back of the syntagma near the center of the files. Chapters nine and ten describe the syntagma and the position of the officers of a phalanx.

Putting the standards at the center was done during the ACW, 7YW etc. 30 years war illustrations show standards in the middle of the pike blocks.

Regards,
Bill

Thank you all for the replies.

I had the idea that the standard bearer was a "right marker" in a phalanx from some ?Connolly book way back, and wondered if this applied to other units like thureophoroi.

where all the pikes were opinions

I disagree with your pike!!

I see no evidence of standard bearers as part of the Hellenistic doctrine. Where does the reference to "semeiophoroi" come from?

Semeiohporoi are mentioned in Aelian chapter 9 and Asclepiodotus "Tactics" II,9. Duncan Head, "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars" page 13 paragraph 2 probably taken from Asclepiodotus. As to whether they actually existed? I don't include them in my pike units nor do I include sword wielding officer figures.

I think the diagram of a syntagma in Aelian showing the trumpeter, standard bearer etc. on the right is just to show that they are supernumaries rather than necessarily the position in line of battle.

I do wonder whether their function was to relay a signal along a line rather than for their own syntagma. The trumpeter can then give an audible signal for the pikemen.

Asclepiodotus positions the supernumeraries behind the phalanx when deployed. One would think they marched next to the front of the column before deployed. However he also implies that the signal could have been deployed to the front before contact.

The herald was there for spoken messages and command.
The standard was used for visual signaling.
The bugle used when the signal could not be seen for the dust
The aide was there to fetch things
The file closer was there to bring back stragglers.

Generally the officer would be armed as the men. I agree that having supernumeraries is only "for looks" on the gaming table. Plus things, even in a rigid phalanx could be more fluid before close contact with the enemy. The supernumeraries could easily pass up and down the files unless the unit was in shield lock at 8 deep with the even files stepping left to fill the gaps.