Sacred Band

The term Sacred Band, also Sacred Company or Sacred Squadron (from Ancient Greek: Ἱερὸς Λόχος, Modern Greek: Ιερός Λόχος) can refer to one of the following military units:

In the ancient world:

  • Sacred Band of Thebes
  • Sacred Band of Carthage

In modern Greek history, the name has been used to denote several military units:

  • Sacred Band (1821) of the Greek War of Independence
  • Cretan Sacred Band during the Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869
  • Cretan Student's Sacred Band, which participated in the Balkan Wars as a part of the Hellenic Army
  • Epirote Sacred Band (1914), formed during the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
  • Sacred Band (World War II), a special forces unit composed entirely of officers

In fiction:

  • the Sacred Band of Stepsons is a mythical Sacred Band of ancient cavalry fighters that eventually unites with the survivors of the Sacred Band of Thebes in a seven-novel saga

Famous quotes containing the words sacred and/or band:

    I never drank of Aganippe well,
    Nor ever did in shade of Tempe sit,
    And muses scorn with vulgar brains to dwell;
    Poor layman I, for sacred rites unfit.
    Some do I hear of poets’ fury tell,
    But, God wot, wot not what they mean by it;
    And this I swear by blackest brook of hell,
    I am no pickpurse of another’s wit.
    Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

    Firm, united, let us be,
    Rallying round our Liberty;
    As a band of brothers joined,
    Peace and safety we shall find.
    Joseph Hopkinson (1770–1842)