The Immortals were the imperial bodyguard as well as the main infantry force of the standing army in the Achaemenid Empire. Herodotus stated that this name derived from the fact that “When any one of them left the number incomplete, whether by force of death or of sickness, a substitute was appointed, so that they never were more or less than 10,000 men.” Always kept at full strength, the Immortals were armed with bow, spear and shield, and an akinakes, kopis or sagaris as a side-arm; trained in all of these weapons to serve as shielded spearmen and/or archers. They were also armoured in scale breastplates or linothorax, and wore ornate clothing and gold ornaments in battle, denoting their exalted rank. There were 10 divisions of a thousand men each, nine of them had silver pomegranates on