The Immortals: An Elite Army of the Persian Empire That Never Grew Weak

The immortals were a well trained unit with all the glitz and glitter of their time.. Their armor was not up to the standards of the Greeks for a frontal type attack against a shield wall.. Yet for their time they were a force to be reconciled with... They were the ones who haven been beat back during the battle of Thermopylae went through the hills and attacked the Spartans from the rear..

The Immortals played an important role in several conquests. First, they were elemental when Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. They played a role in Cambyses II’s conquest of Egypt in 525 B.C., and Darius I’s invasion of western Punjab, Sindh, and Scythia in 520 B.C. and 513 B.C. The Immortals also participated in the Battle of Thermopylae 480 B.C. During the Battle of Thermopylae, the Greeks had prevented a Persian invasion by blocking a narrow road. The Immortals took a different route, and attacked the Greeks from the rear. They were very strong, and feared by many for their strength, replenishing numbers, strategy, and technique.

www.theepochtimes.com...

The Immortals were called such because of the way in which the army was formed. When a member of the 10,000-strong force was killed or wounded, he was immediately replaced by someone else. This allowed for the infantry to remain cohesive and consistent in numbers, no matter what happened. Thus, from an outsider’s perspective, it would appear that each member of the infantry was “immortal,” and a member’s replacement may have represented a resurrection of sorts.

a reply to: 727Sky

Immortals were just another group of killers.

Think about it.

Romans
Greeks
British
Nazis
Mongolians
Japanese

ALL KILLERS, nothing more, nothing less.

Funny when people speak of Alexander the great with reverence. He is just ANOTHER ANCIENT KILLER

I have no respect for any of those bastards, be they Spartans, Immortals, US Army etc.

a reply to: 727Sky

I was just watching how Caligula made fun of his own personal Guard and slept with wives of his personal guard soldiers.

I mean talk about being In Your Face ancient killer.

No wonder very few of them lived to old age. They are all killed by their own.

SNIP**

Seems like someone needs some wine without ice.

Amd then it will be the ice without the wine after she passes out.....

"Immortals" sound interesting... But nothing compares to the Shaheed Singhs, that i know of. wgjkkwgjkf

originally posted by: WineWithIce5
a reply to: 727Sky

Immortals were just another group of killers.

Think about it.

Romans
Greeks
British
Nazis
Mongolians
Japanese

ALL KILLERS, nothing more, nothing less.

Funny when people speak of Alexander the great with reverence. He is just ANOTHER ANCIENT KILLER

I have no respect for any of those bastards, be they Spartans, Immortals, US Army etc.

You have no respect for those who chose to to defend our country, those who fought and died so we don't have to sacrifice all the things we love? My brother is a US Sailor and he doesn't get to come home and be with family for the Holidays because he chose to sacrifice all that to defend our country so someone else doesn't have to.
How dare you

a reply to: 727Sky

I'm being a picky git, I know; but five lines of text and some quotes? What are you trying to say or achieve here - surely there was a lot more that you intended to post?

WineWithIce5

I am highly offended at this, British is a nationality and a Race as well which span's over Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and England as well as the entire island north and south of Eira and we are not killer's we are people soldier's on the other hand are both defender's and attacker's though I do hesitate to call a soldier a killer as he is only doing his duty and following order's, now politician's on the other hand you may call them killer's all you want.

Greek's, the Greek's are a great nation not a bunch of Killer's and even in Classical greece when they had less morality and used slave's for everything the majority of Greek people were civilian's and poor, there soldiers most famous for the Hoplite or Athenian soldier who was most often taken from the upper class wealthy greek Citizen caste while Shepherd's were used as Peltasts or Sling shot Archer's, Peltasts played a pivotal role in Alexander's defeat of Darius.

Roman's, once again they were a nation state and not a simply bunch of Killer's, many that they defeated were far more barbarous and without there legacy and condensing of idea's into a single culture from all there conquered vassal state's the modern world could and would never have been born.

The Nazi's were a group of Fanatical German's so why have you not blamed the Entire german race like you have the British, Greek or Roman people's.

The Mongolians were Nomadic Tribesmen and though they undoubtedly commited terrible crime's in the ancient world they were not simply Killer's and in there own setting are one of the most hospitable people you could ever meet but while you could trust them with your life you could never trust them with your possession's as there culture is somewhat different to ours'.

The Japanese are not all Killer's, they are a nation made up of mainly Korean ancestry but including Ainu and Chinese in that mix, The Yakuza though much like the Triad's are essentially thuggish murderer's and gangster's, the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces of the second world war were indeed horrible people but it was because of Fanatical loyalty to there nation and a call to arm's that they went to war, Japan was trying to Emulate the European model of Empire and wanted to litterally take over the Pacific, they were slighly justified in that the US had placed a stranglehold on Japanese fuel and trade, there crime's in Manchuria are legendary and unforgivable such as the rape of Nanking but once again you can not hold an entire race guilty of crime's of the past so no they are not a bunch of killer's.

And where they hell do you think Darius Got his empire from, I hate islam as it is a religion of murder and peodophilia but I do not for one instant believe all arab's and every Faithful muslim is a murderer though there prophet most certainly was.
In fact most muslims are decent and honest people.

The US Army are actually simply young men sent off on mission's they most often do not understand, like any soldier they follow there order's and once again the blame for any mistake's does not lie with them or the US citizenry but with the politicians who these day's are often working for money men who want war's to boost there asset's abroad, they will wipe there nation's mistakes clean when they start to prosecute such opposing interests for treason and abuse of state authority but that will never happen and anyway in what way are there corrupt politicians any worse than our corrupt politician's.

So if you want to call someone a murderer then make certain he or she is a murderer or a politician as they are the same thing.

Some time in the future, when you're being gang raped by Russian, Chinese, or perhaps soldiers from some Central American country, do you think that you may ask yourself, "Who will come rescue me?" a reply to: WineWithIce5

a reply to: LABTECH767

Perhaps she meant the british aristocracy as in the british empire. They were evil killers.

Edit: Many native people still simply refer to those bastards as "the british".

a reply to: funkadeliaaaa

Maybe you are right, but we have all lost family in these war's, some war's were justified and other's were not that is a sad fact of history, many of the reason's they went to war are not reason enough to our way to thinking and other's were simply to steal what someone else had, it was only ever really the elite who benefitted from this.

The British aristocracy are of mainly Norman descent and a bigger bunch of evil doer's you are unlikely to find in history, they enslaved the British when they conquered the country and for over 450 years they force norman french on the people of Britain or today we would sound more like the danish in our spoken language with german down south.

So who were these Norman's, they were essentially an army of former viking's who had cut part of france off for themselves and from there sent raving army's around murdering and conquering, they instituted feudal law's and set themselves up as lord's or barrons where ever they went and had a law that stated the Lord had the right to spend the first night of a marriage with the bride and take her virginity, in part to spread there seed around.

What rebellions did this cause, Robert the Bruce was backed up by William Wallace whose own wife was one of there victim's, the Mafia were born (Mafia means MY daughter) when a Norman Leutenant stormed a church during a wedding and dragged the bride off to rape her murdering the protesting groom, her mother stood up screaming in horror "My Daughter My Daughter", the Sicilians rose in revolt taking this as a war cry and fought an eventually successful war driving the Norman's from Sicily.


Back to the thread the Immortals were a fantastic fighting force in there day but they were simply elite soldier's while the Spartans were raised to be killing machine's, even civilian life in Sparta was hell and the spartan's believed themselves to descendant's of Herecles so from a religious stand point they did not tollerate any weakness, wounds that would cripple a moddern soldier they simply shrugged off, if anything though they were the aggressor in this ancient conflict the persians were actually the more civilized.

Later when Alexander destroyed Persepolis and murdered her already surrenderd citizen's ensuring no scholars or priests escaped, a crime against the history of the entire world was commited as it was perhaps the most cultured and advanced city on the face of the earth at that time was lost to history but Alexander knew as long as it stood it was standard around which any persian laying claim to the throne could rally his follower's.

It is my belief that Alexander's own general's murdered him and pinned the blame on Roxanne as they wanted the empire for themselves so made certain there was no heir, they were after all not going to tollerate Roxanne a persian princess and daughter of Darius to be there emperess or call her son there emperor so they disposed of him then split the empire between them, the Salucid's took persia and the Ptolomeis (Blond blue eye's macedonian's who copyed the egyptian model after calling themselve pharoe and intermarrying meaning cleopatra may actually have been blonde) took Egypt.

Yes this view is a long held position of 'high' pacifists. That any killing even hunting of animals is terribly wrong. It's a very moral and ethical position but rather useless in this reality.

It would work but everyone has to agree to act in the same way - if not you are left vulnerable.

Jains and other eastern religions hold to something like this also

a reply to: 727Sky

Ah dang I thought you were going to come up with a theory that they were REALLY immortals.

The French Napoleonic Imperial guards had a similar system and it evolved into the old, middle and young guards the old guard was called the immortals.

a reply to: WineWithIce5

No reply? I never knew extreme lefty's to be so quiet

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: 727Sky

Ah dang I thought you were going to come up with a theory that they were REALLY immortals.

The French Napoleonic Imperial guards had a similar system and it evolved into the old, middle and young guards the old guard was called the immortals.

Naw I am more grounded in reality.

I did not know the Immortals were the ones who were sent through the hills to attack the Spartans from the rear... Makes sense ...

Funny how almost anything posted @ ATS brings out the naysayers and critics who can even find fault with something like a, "Good morning".... weird times we live in, no?

originally posted by: 727Sky

Funny how almost anything posted @ ATS brings out the naysayers and critics who can even find fault with something like a, "Good morning".... weird times we live in, no?

Yes I'm sure - and I have seen severe disagreement with the concepts of motherhood, apple pie and the American way too!

lol

Edited to add: Labtech seemed to think I was in disagreement with Sky727 - no not at all and I added other subjects that were once considered sacrosanct and would garner a great deal of naysayers and critics.

727SKY AND HANSLUNE, CALM DOWN CALM DOWN

Seriously you are both good posters but dont fall out over opinions and that is coming from a real scouser.
have a laugh at this, it may not be to your sense of humor but then again it may.
Warning some strong language.


727SKY the immortals were a truly elite fighting unit and the Greek legend put there finding of the secret route around the hot gate's where the spartan's held the persian army down to an act of betrayal, in reality they probably grabbed some poor shepherd boy and made him show them the way.

Also the infamous battle of Hasting's in England were the last Saxon King Harald Godwinson would have done the Spartan's proud for his housecarls died to the last man defending there fallen king just like the spartans, the difference historically is that greece won a victory at sea when the Athenian led greek fleet stopped the Persians coming any further and drove them back so however legendary it may be the Battle of Thermopylae was a sideshow that merely delayed the Persian army but the Saxons of England were utterly defeated so there was no heroic saga of Harald's bravery or his houscarls honorable sacrifice and the Norman's left there body's to rot for two years on the hillock where they were slain.

Here is some more about the Immortal's.
deadliestwarrior.wikia.com...
www.britannica.com...
The Persians still came close to winning that war though.
en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: LABTECH767

Who me ?? Naw I think you added great content of which I always seem to appreciate.. Our comments (for sure mine) were directed at others who usually show up with nothing to add but display a picky personality..

My personal problem is I really do know a little bit about allot of subjects...notice I said a little bit... jack of all trades expert in very few if any... But hay I can live with that...

ATS is certainly a place to find out that everyone is absolutely not wired the same ! Interesting at times and educational at other times, No?

originally posted by: WineWithIce5
a reply to: 727Sky

Immortals were just another group of killers.

Think about it.

Romans
Greeks
British
Nazis
Mongolians
Japanese

ALL KILLERS, nothing more, nothing less.

Funny when people speak of Alexander the great with reverence. He is just ANOTHER ANCIENT KILLER

I have no respect for any of those bastards, be they Spartans, Immortals, US Army etc.

Jeez war is what it is.......The men fighting deserve some respect. Do you think the men killing the Nazi guards at the death camps are just killers.........What about the guys hunting down the Taliban........Are they just killers also.


I see many just plain stupid replies on ATS yours is a cut above the rest.

a reply to: 727Sky

I am if anything worse, I could not resist adding the harry enfield clip, he is not a scouser and only a very small percentage of liverpudlian's are anything at all like that but instead of being offended by him most liverpudlian's took the guy to heart because most of us have met that one percent and he hit the nail bang on the head.

I just thought I would butt in so neither of you really fell out as both of your thread's are fantastic and make the site more dynamic and enjoyable, a good argument is great as it is a learning curve for both side's but if it ever get's too far then it is best simply dropping the argument as one side can not win if the other is not competing though they may then think they have and anyway poking at flaw's in one another's argument's is actually constructive and helps to find a more clear view of the point that both persepctive's are arguing about..

The Persian's may have had knowledge of more ancient culture's and a lot of there knowledge was looted by the greek's and lost at alexandria when the Roman's burned the library but Persia is still one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world that has absorbted all manner of invasion and conquest from ancient time's up to the islamic conquests yet many supposedly Islamic modern day Iranians know an awful lot about Zoarastrianism and Ahura Mazda so actually have two religions one of which they hide for fear or persecution.

Actually a fascinating place and a massive country with a very dense population and a very deep history.