Infantry units and formations of Macedon

thumb|upright=1.4|Sumerian phalanx-like formation , from detail of the victory stele of King Eannatum of Lagash over [[Umma, called the Stele of the Vultures]]

thumb|Agrianes|Agrianian peltas. This peltast holds three javelins, one in his throwing hand and two in his pelte (shield) hand as additional ammunition. A peltast (, ) was a type of light infantry originating in Thrace and Paeonia and named after the kind of shield they carried. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis distinguishes the Thracian and Greek peltast troops.

ancient infantry formation

right|thumb|220px|Ancient depiction of a Macedonian infantryman (right). He is equipped with an Argive shield, so probably is a Hypaspist. He also wears a linothorax cuirass and a [[Thracian helmet. Alexander Sarcophagus.]] thumb|upright=1.5|A Hypaspist|alt= A hypaspist ( "shield bearer" or "shield covered") is a squire, man at arms, or "shield carrier". In Homer's Iliad, Deiphobos advances "" () or under cover of his shield. By the time of Herodotus (426 BC), the word had come to mean a high status soldier as is strongly suggested by Herodotus in one of the earliest known uses:

The Argyraspides () were elite Macedonian soldiers who carried silver-plated shields, hence their name. The original unit were hypaspists serving in the army of Alexander the Great. During the Wars of the Diadochi, they initially served Eumenes, but betrayed him to Antigonus I Monophthalmus at the Battle of Gabiene in 316. After their dispersal under Antigonus, later units of the Seleucid Empire and Roman Empire would be modeled after them.

The pezhetairoi (Greek: , singular: pezhetairos) were the backbone of the Macedonian army and Diadochi kingdoms. They were literally "foot companions" (in Greek, pezos means "pedestrian" and hetairos means "companion" or "friend").

Agema (), plural agemata (αγήματα) is a term to describe a military detachment, used for a special purpose, such as guarding high valued targets. Due to its nature the agema most probably comprises elite troops.

Chalkaspides () is a poetic term used by writers of Koine Greek to refer to a Macedonian phalanx. The most notable group called chalkaspides was the main phalanx force of the Antigonid Macedonian army in the Hellenistic period. The group were hoplites who fought in phalanx formation using long sarissas and bronze shields, either a pelta or an aspis. They may have been supplemented by another Antigonid force called the Leukaspides ("White Shields") when more manpower was necessary, although the leukaspides are less well-attested to in ancient sources. The leukaspides may have been very similar

The Leukaspides () were a group in the Antigonid Macedonian army. Scholars suggest two main possibilities for what precisely they were. The first is that they were equipped in the style of the Macedonian phalanx and were a counterpart to the Chalkaspides ("Bronze Shields"), a group uncontroversially known to be sarissa-wielding hoplites with bronze shields (the pelta and aspis). In this possibility, they were probably only mustered when the Macedonians needed more manpower as a supplemental corps. The second possibility is that the Leukaspides referred to ethnically non-Macedonian troops hired