Ancient Persian "Immortals" Reading and Q s

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1 Ancient Persian "Immortals" Reading and Q s Immortals: Greek name for an elite regiment in the ancient Achaemenid/Persian empire. In his description of the battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE), the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (pictured below) mentions a Persian elite army unit which he calls the Ten Thousand, or the "Immortals (pictured left). Herodotus, who is nicknamed the father of history, lived in Ancient Greece and was one of the first human beings to try and record events for later people to read! He describes the Persian Immortals as a body of

2 hand-picked Persian soldiers of elite fighting capability. This unit was known as the Immortals because it was always kept up to strength. If a man was killed in battle, his spot in the army was immediately filled, so that the total strength of the corps was never less - and never more - than ten thousand! Of all the troops in Persian army, the native Persians were not only the best but also the most magnificently equipped. Their dress and armor I have mentioned already, but I should add that every man glittered with the gold which he carried about his person in unlimited quantity. They were accompanied by covered carriages full of their women and servants, all elaborately fitted out. Special food, separate from that of the rest of the army, was brought along for them on mules. - Herodotus (Ancient Greek Historian)

3 Herodotus also mentions how these Immortals dressed!... The dress of these troops consisted of the tiara, or soft felt cap, embroidered tunic with sleeves, a coat of mail looking like the scales of a fish, and trousers; for arms they carried light wicker shields, quivers slung below them, short spears, powerful bows with cane arrows, and short swords swinging from belts beside the right thigh. -- Herodotus We also learn from Herodotus that this elite unit played an important role during the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C (depicted below).

4 During the Battle of Thermopylae, the Greeks blocked a narrow road along the coast and prevented the Persians from invading Greece. However, the Immortals made a detour and were able to attack the Greeks in the rear. The Persian Immortals are also mentioned during the second year of the war, in 479 BCE, when they remain in Greece within the army of a Persian commander. The big problem with understanding this ancient elite fighting unit is that they are unknown from other sources. There are other Greek and later Latin (Roman) writers that mention the Persian Immortals, but they have taken this name for the Persian elite troops from Herodotus. In other

5 words, later historians who wrote about the Immortals got all the information they had about them from only one source -- Herodotus! This presents a problem for historians and modern-day people who want to know the truth about these ancient warriors. If only one person wrote about them, we have no way of knowing how much of what Herodotus wrote is biased, misinformed, or just plain made up! When historians think about past cultures, events, and periods of history, they try to gather as many different sources of information as possible! The more sources that say the same thing or something very similar, the higher the likelihood that it is true. Think about it in this way. If someone you hardly know comes up to you and tells you that your best friend is lying to you, you probably won t believe it. If 10 people come up to you and tell you your friend is lying to you, you re probably going to believe it! And, if 100 people tell you your

6 friend is lying, there s almost no chance you don t believe them. Understanding history works in the same way. The more sources of information that corroborate, or back up, a claim about an event, person, or era, the higher chance that it is true! The less sources, the less reason we have to trust the truthfulness of the claim.

7 Critical Thinking Questions 1)What is Herodotus nickname and how did he get it? 2)Why were the Persian Immortals called Immortals? 3)Reading Comprehension: What kind of shields does Herodotus claim the Immortals carried? 4)How do we know what we know about the Immortals? 5)What do historians try to do in order to make sure a historical claim is true? 6)Why might what we think we know about the Ancient Persian Immortals be untrue?

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