Description
The 'Ten Thousand Immortals' were a military force of elite infantry divisions within the Achaemenid Empire, acting as both an imperial guard and an expeditionary army during the Persian conquests. They were so named for always numbering exactly ten thousand - if any man died or fell ill, he was immediately replaced; in this way the unit never 'died'. Herodotus describes them as “magnificently” equipped, glittering in gold and dressed in the finest armour. The Immortals were also afforded the best food and treatment befitting of their elite status. They famously fought at the Battle of Thermopylae, outflanking the redoubtable Spartans and ultimately securing victory. Although the unit died with the Achaemenids, it were revived much later under the Sassanids, helping to legitimise Sassanid rule as inheritors of Persian power.
