Step aside, Spartans. This elite, homosexual regiment was the ultimate crack team
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© Alamy
Pelopidas and the Sacred Band freeing Thebes – Alamy
When given the topic of crack regiments for our podcast, I intended to concentrate on the SAS, Delta Force and the Gurkhas. But I was distracted on finding that rulers have relied on similar elite military units for thousands of years. While they acted as bodyguards, and as a pinnacle of excellence to which other troops could aspire, they also serve now as a manifestation of the society from which they sprung.
Perhaps the most famous such unit were the hippeis – the Spartan knights who, as celebrated in print and celluloid ever since, formed ‘the 300’ who fought to the last man against hundreds of thousands of Persian soldiers, at Thermopylae, in 480 BC.
Spartan boys were taken away from their families aged seven and entered a life of unforgiving soldiery. They trained barefoot, and slept outdoors on wooden pallets, while a dire black soup was their staple diet. On turning 20, they were sufficiently hardened to compete for selection for the hippeis.
The contrast between the 300 and the elite of their Persian enemies was stark. The vast Persian army of Cyrus the Great, in the 6th century BC, and then of Xerxes, a century later, boasted the Immortals – a crack force of 10,000. As luxury was the physical expression of the Persian king’s power, the Immortals were richly rewarded for their prowess: they received top-quality rations, gold jewellery, and the services of a travelling caravan of “comfort women”.
Alexander the Great blew the Persians away in the five years after he succeeded to the throne of Macedon, in 336BC. By the age of 25, he had possession of the treasures and palaces of the Persian Empire, and he put every one of a force of 700 Immortals to the sword in 330BC.
© Provided by The Telegraph
Conquerer: Colin Farrell as Alexander the Great in Alexander (2004) – Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Alexander’s crack regiment was the Companion Cavalry, whose eight squadrons were drawn from the Macedonian aristocracy. They were armed with a spear and two swords – one for thrusting, the other for slashing. Alexander rode at the head of the pick of this select cavalry force, the Royal Squadron.
How to bring about the bond that would make such ancient elites fight harder? Alexander believed in geographical loyalty, and each of his eight squadrons was recruited from a distinct area of his lands.
Gorgidas, general of the city-state of Thebes, decided to divide the 300 warriors of his elite unit, the Sacred Band of Thebes, into 150 sexual pairings. “Who would desert his beloved, or fail him in the hour of danger?” asked Plato. While the homosexual Sacred Band flourished, in the mid-4th century BC, it led Thebes in crushing victories over the warriors of Sparta.
At Althorp, a few years back, I hosted an eclectic house party. I placed General Sir Mike Jackson and Julian Clary next to each other at dinner, and I seem to remember their talking about the role of gay people in the military. If only I could have interjected then, introducing the Sacred Band of Thebes as the ultimate crack regiment, more deadly than the famed Spartans, and forerunners of our celebrated special forces today.
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