One of history's great magic tricks - The Persian "Immortals" (elite soldiers)

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Herodotus describes the 'Immortals' as being heavy infantry, led by Hydarnes, that were kept constantly at a strength of exactly 10,000 men. He claimed that the unit's name stemmed from the custom that every killed, seriously wounded, or sick member was immediately replaced with a new one, maintaining the numbers and cohesion of the unit.

There is evidence of the existence of a permanent corps from Persian sources, which provided a backbone for the tribal levies who made up the bulk of the Achaemenid armies.

The Immortals played an important role in Cambyses II's conquest of Egypt in 525 BC and Darius I's invasion of India's smaller western frontier kingdoms (western Punjab and Sindh, now in Pakistan) and Scythia in 520 BC and 513 BC. Immortals participated in the Battle of Thermopylae 480 BC and were amongst the Persian occupation troops in Greece in 479 BC under Mardonius.

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What's fascinating about the Immortals is how they got their reputation as soldiers to be feared by all. People feared the Immortals for a few reasons:

1) Word of mouth spread rumors across the known world that the Immortals couldn't be killed

2) Therefore, many city states would surrender before engaging in combat against the Immortals due to their otherworldly reputation

3) Armies that engaged the Immortals in combat discovered that Immortals who were killed at some point in the battle indeed seemed to resurrect later in the battle or the following morning.

4) Come full circle, word of mouth spread word of their otherworldy reputation as an elite force to be feared.


So, how did the Immortals resurrect? A simple magic trick. Illusion.

The Immortals were always kept at an even 10,000 men, and make no mistake, Immortals would certainly die in combat.

However, in the dark of night, Persian soldiers would sneak onto the battlefield and replace dead Immortal soldiers with fresh soldiers who would wear the battle gear of the dead soldier. The Persian army was huge. They had no problem resupplying dead Immortals with fresh soldiers.

Therefore, the next morning an army would awaken to discover 10,000 Immortals, some of which would be wearing bloodied battle uniforms and armor of Immortal men who had died the previous day. Perhaps a soldier would be wearing armor that was pierced by arrows or cleaved in half. This was a magic trick which resulted in people believing that the dead Immortals had risen from the dead overnight.

In an age of mysticism and strange Gods, the magic trick was very effective.