Army Sizes in the 7th, 6th, and 5th Centuries BCE

[Israelite9191]

I haven't been around the history forum in a while, but I need help with something. This is actually for a NES (Never Ending Story) in the NES forum, but what I need is of a more specifically historical kind. Basically, I need information about the size of armies (for all the different kinds of states in existance at the time preferably) during the 7th, 6th, and 5th centuries BCE. I don't need specifics for every nation, but I do need some general ranges. Thank you, this is much appreciated.

 

[North King]

The Assyrians at the upper end of the spectrum could raise nearly a hundred thousand, while other forces of course numbered as low as in the hundreds. As you can see, our fresh starts aren't very realistic.

 

[Israelite9191]

Hmmm, anyway you could give me a little more regional specifications? I have to come up with stats for 46 countries from almost every geographic sphere and cultural sphere. Most of them are midsized empires, but the largest one stretches Mesepotamia to the Hindu Kush (though I may take Mesepotamia out from that nation, still writing the history).

 

[North King]

Well, Greek armies, when united, stood at the tens of thousands mark, but they were of course usually divided, so most of the time, they were only just approaching the 10,000 mark. The Assyrian empire, as I said, approached a hundred thousand. The Persians, when they ruled nearly the entire Middle East, had several hundred thousand. India's Maurya Empire could raise a similar number of several hundred thousand; their more minor states would have a few tens of thousands. China's Warring States obviously had huge numbers, as Sun Tzu's Art of War mentions the ideal size for an army being 100,000.

Thus, the general size army for a medium state is around 10,000-50,000. A large state is from 50,000-300,000. A small state is less than 10,000. It didn't vary too much by region, except that, since the West and India comparitively had smaller states than China and the Middle East, they generally had smaller armies.