Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of ancient warfare answers with me, Murray.

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So the question we have today is about Alexander's

companion cavalry. Alexander's companion cavalry seemed to be the premier cavalry of its age

and was instrumental in the battles against the Persian Empire. Why is it then that under the

successor kingdoms generals that they fared so poorly when confronting the inferior Roman cavalry. Was it due

to the lack of Alexander himself, poor training, or just professionalism of the Roman Legion?

Well, the interesting thing there is, yes indeed, it was the lack of Alexander, and he sort of sets

the model for the successor generals to lead the cavalry from the front, which is not every general's

strong support. And one of the other issues, of course, is that what Alexander does when he

commands the cavalry is that he combines it with the phalanx. So in the majority of Alexander's's battles the phalanx acts as a sort of a

fulcrum in the centre he extends the right so he posts the companion cavalry on the right of the phalanx

he then pushes that line out towards the right and at uh the battle of abysus and the Battle of Galgamelor especially,

and I think at the Battle of the Granicus, which means you have to disregard Aryan and

Plutarch's version of the battle, which is that he ignores the phalanx and just charges across the

Rhe of Granicus straight into the Persian infantry with his cavalry,

which is highly unlikely.

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