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The 'Machimoi' were low ranking Egyptian foot soldiers, pressed into service by the Ptolemaic Dynasty during a period of manpower shortage.

The term Máchimoi... ...commonly refers to a broad category of ancient Egyptian low-ranked soldiers which rose during the Late Period of Egypt (664–332 BCE).

Wikipedia has only a brief article on the Machimoi, and references very briefly the use of pikes.

...suggesting that the term was rather an indicator of their military role (for example, the pike-bearing máchimoi epilektoi or the mounted máchimoi hippeis)

The game 'Rome II: Total War' suggests they could be employed in a Phalanx, and have long pikes while maintaining 'Egyptian-looking' armour. I'm guessing this has obvious historical failings though...

Were the Egyptian soldiers in formation alongside the more professional Ptolemaic Phalangites? Is it known what equipment they were given when in this role?

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The game 'Rome II: Total War' suggests they could be employed in a Phalanx, and have long pikes while maintaining 'Egyptian-looking' armour. I'm guessing this has obvious historical failings though...

Paradox generally does a good job on their history, for a video game, and I'd be surprised if they made an elementary mistake. Whoops, Total War is by Creative Assembly. Don't know their rep for historical accuracy.

The basic phalanx, soldiers in a tight, rectangular formation moving forward as a unit, usually with polearm and shield, was around for millennia by the late Egyptian period. The earliest depiction is in the Stele of the Vultures celebrating a victory of Lagash over its neighbor Umma around 2500 BC.

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It remained, with many tweaks, the dominant form of warfare in Europe and the Near East until the Roman army of the middle republic developed the more flexible legions around 250 BC.

After Alexander The Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC, their armies followed the Greek model and their main military force moved away from bowmen and chariots to heavy infantry. After that point yes, Egyptian infantry would definitely be in a phalanx formation, wearing armor, and wielding pikes.

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  • Not related to the answer, but Paradox certainly likes to play loose with history! For example in Europa Universalis 4, it took about 4 years worth of DLC and patches before Paradox realized that in 1444, the English were still occupying Maine and that it was surrendered in 1448 as a dowry for the marriage between Henry VI and Margaret d'Anjou, and thus ignored one of the main instigators for the Wars of the Roses
    – Evil Washing Machine
    Commented Feb 23, 2017 at 17:29
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    @EvilWashingMachine If that's your biggest complaint about a historical video game, I'd say they're doing pretty damn good. :)
    – Schwern
    Commented Feb 23, 2017 at 18:38
  • no, it was just an example; there are tons and tons of historical errors in the base 1444 start. Paradox likes to make a base game then let the community create really good mods to make the game better. Then they take the good ideas, put them into a DLC and charge me 15$. Just look at MEIOU and taxes; the difference is huge. To their credit however, they do like hiring from their modding community like how Wiz was hired, and I've been popping that $15 everytime a dlc comes out, including the god awful Mare Nostrum and now I'm gonna pop another $15 for mandate of heaven...
    – Evil Washing Machine
    Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 2:08

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