Lesson plan
Cardaces
The Cardaces (or Kardakes, meaning "foreign mercenary" ) were a professional heavy infantry mustering of the Achaemenid Persian army. They were formed some time before the Macedonian invasion (334 BCE). There are debates among historians about the armament and tactics used by the Cardaces. The Persian army had earlier become heavily dependent upon Greek mercenaries and it may have been intended that the Cardaces – as Persian subjects – would complement the mercenaries. According to Kambouris (2022), Kardaka may refer to the ethnic Persian draftees who were sparabara archers initially and later redelegated as armored close-quarter soldiers.
Article summary
The Cardaces (or Kardakes, meaning "foreign mercenary" ) were a professional heavy infantry mustering of the Achaemenid Persian army. They were formed some time before the Macedonian invasion (334 BCE). There are debates among historians about the armament and tactics used by the Cardaces. The Persian army had earlier become heavily dependent upon Greek mercenaries and it may have been intended that the Cardaces – as Persian subjects – would complement the mercenaries. According to Kambouris (2022), Kardaka may refer to the ethnic Persian draftees who were sparabara archers initially and later redelegated as armored close-quarter soldiers.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.