Gli «amici» e i «compagni» del re: élites militari macedoni e persiane nel loro contesto sociale

The relations between the Kingdom of Macedon and the Achaemenid Empire represent a much-debated topic in Ancient World Studies. It is normally assumed that the former was influenced by the latter in several aspects (socially, military, and ideologically). If it is sure that these relations strongly increased after Alexander the Great’s campaign in Asia, it is far more difficult to evaluate the relevance of the Achaemenid influence over Macedonia before that time. This article aims to analyse this same topic from the perspective of military institutions, namely the elite military divisions: starting from the fundamental reflections of Dietmar Kienast, ancient sources about the Macedonian and the Persian armies will be discussed to assess if they were socially compatible or not – i.e. if elite military divisions corresponded to social groups that can be defined as «aristocratic». This scenario appears to be truthful for the Persian world, whereas the Macedonian context between the 6th and the 4th century B.C. seems to be far less articulate and, most of all, lacking an institutionalization of aristocratic structures in the army. Finally, this article will attempt to show how many of the similarities between the Macedonian and the Persian armies are already suggested by the Alexandrian sources, which nevertheless tend to apply some features of the Achaemenid Empire to the Late Archaic and Classical Macedonia.