Open Access“THE ELEPHANTS IN THE REAR OF THE PHALANX”: THE BATTLE OF PANION AND COMBINED ARMS WARFARE
Author(s) -
Абакумов Аркадий Алексеевич
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
vestnik udmurtskogo universiteta. istoriâ i filologiâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2413-2454
pISSN - 2412-9534
DOI - 10.35634/2412-9534-2021-31-1-5-13
Subject(s) - battle , infantry , battlefield , victory , adversary , decisive victory , spanish civil war , history , military strategy , military tactics , ancient history , maneuver warfare , law , computer security , archaeology , computer science , political science , asymmetric warfare , politics
The Battle of Panion (or Panium; c. 200 B.C.), the decisive engagement of the 5th Syrian War, can be described as successful implementation of Combined Arms Warfare in Antiquity; different units of the Seleucid army (infantry, cavalry, war elephants) were used in concert, mutually assisting and protecting each other. Like Hannibal's famous victory at Cannae, this battle exemplifies complete encirclement and total destruction of an enemy army. Nevertheless, its reconstruction is hampered due to discrepancies in the texts of primary sources: the reports of Polybius and Zeno of Rhodes are in conflict, and there is no coherent and detailed description of the battle, including the location of the battlefield and the number of troops. Some historians even consider this reconstruction to be impossible at all. Most renowned (and virtually the only) scenario belongs to Professor Bezalel Bar-Kochva who actually splits this battle into two different «parts», or episodes, on the same battlefield divided by a river. However his scenario is based on a quite shaky foundation - the disputed topographic identification of the battlefield itself. The author of this article makes an attempt to offer a generic reconstruction of the Battle of Panion regardless of the local geographical peculiarities.