What is "cardaces"

The Cardaces (or Kardakes) were a professional heavy infantry mustering of the Achaemenid Persian army. They were formed some time before the Macedonian invasion (334 BCE).

There are debates among historians about the armament and tactics utilised by the Cardaces. The Persian army had earlier become heavily dependent upon Greek mercenaries and it may have been intended that the Cardaces – as Persian subjects – would complement the mercenaries.