Elite Fighting Forces in History- The IMMORTALS.

The elite force of the Persian empire mentioned by Greek historian Herodotus as Ten Thousand or Athanatoi, the IMMORTALS were both the infantry unit and the imperial guard of the Archaemenid dynasty. This battalion unit was formed during the early ages of Archaemenid empire (550-300 BC) under the rule of Cyrus the great, Darius the great, Xerxes the first. Very little is known about these Immortals. The number of Immortals was always 10,000 no more no less. If any of the infantry unit dies or had to leave due to injury, the dead or the wounded were immediately replaced by another member thus the unit always maintained the cohesive and immortal number of 10,000.

Immortals had great respect and privilege over rest of the soldiers. They were allowed to take their servants and women to war. The Persian Immortals played a vital role in the expansion of Persian empire. Due to these Immortals the Persian empire span to an area more than 3 million square miles comprising over three continents (Asia, Europe and Africa). Their empire stretched from Northern India to Central Asia, East Anatolia to Egypt and Libya. This was the largest empire on the basis of human population consisting of almost 44% of all human population that lived at that time.

TRAINING:  

To be an Immortal the recruits had to be Persian born and training started at an early age. They were trained in archery, sword fighting, hand to hand combats and taming wild horses. Immortals were so highly trained that they spent their time hunting big cats (like; lions, leopards and cheetahs). They would kill the big cat and used their skin to decorate their caravans, shields and armor which was a symbol of their bravery. This not only helped them spare their time but also sharpened their war skills while battling these fierce predators. 

SIZE OF THE ARMY:

One of the biggest warfare tactic Immortals used was dominating their enemies with the sheer size of their army. They lacked strong artillery and weaponry. They had shields make of hard wood that was not strong enough to defend efficiently against Greek and spartan swords and spears. Furthermore, they had thin and short ranged arrows that were effective at a range of about 130 yards. Therefore, they relied much on the number of their troops. These Immortals would launch waves of arrows over their enemies which trembled their enemies. Many of the cities and castles would surrender upon seeing their huge army. As Immortals were allowed to take their servants and women with them therefore their greater number also made the army look even bigger. According to modern estimation the Persian army comprised of about 20,000 infantry and 5000 horsemen which was indeed a large number of troops at that time. 

Their army had shooters and archers at the front and infantry with spears and swords behind them. The first attack was initiated by the archers were they bombarded waves of arrows over the enemy and the shooters had hand catapults and slingshots shooting rocks and lead balls over their enemies. Later on, the infantry unit equipped with swords and spears would attack the frightened enemy.

WEAPONS:

Immortals were fully armed warriors. They carried light weight weapons allowing them to carry large amount of additional weapon at once. The footman carried short sword, bow, fairly large number of arrows, spears and shields. The horseman carried bronze shield, 120 arrows, iron mace, and two iron spears. Sagaris was a favorite weapon of the Persian Immortals. It was a small light weighted axe shaped weapon with a sharp pointed projection of blade on the other side capable of piercing armor made of iron and bronze. Due to its light weight it was used by infantry and horseman 

 These Immortals wore bronze and iron armor polished that would reflect the sunlight during their march towards their enemies decreasing their visibility. 

They used horses for riding. Sometimes these elite warriors used camels and elephants as war animals to gain an upper hand in the battle fields. They would also use scythed chariots during battle to cut through footman and kneeled archers.