Greek or Roman soldiers who received leg injuries in battle?

by CharlesOfBlackess

So my family is rescuing a dog from a shelter, and he needs a name. Unfortunately, he had his leg amputated after getting hit by a car. I think Roman and Greek history is very interesting, but I haven't had much time to get into it, so here I am. I'm wondering if there are any famous, or at least just known soldiers who's leg was injured in battle, and preferably amputated (but that's not too important). Thanks so much!

Iphikrates

Amputations are unknown from Greek history. While the Iliad features several warriors being hurt in the arm or leg, they tend to just get bandaged up. This famous vase shows Achilles tending Patroklos' wounds; if the depiction of the bandage is accurate, Greek methods were apparently quite sophisticated at the time the vase was painted (about 500 BC).

If we hear of battle wounds in the historical record, these tend to be generic - brave men are described as being wounded "all over the body". Sometimes the author will specifically stress that all the wounds were "in front", to make the point that the warrior did not turn away but faced his enemies bravely.

There is one famous Greek who suffered a severe leg injury, though it wasn't in battle: the Spartan king Agesilaos (c.443-359 BC). He was lame in one leg from birth, but hobbled along through the Spartan upbringing and through decade after decade of military campaigns, until he was well past 60 and this happened:

When he was leading his army back from Thebes, and, in Megara, was ascending from the Aphrodision to the government building, some vein or other was ruptured, and the blood from his body poured into his good leg. Then as the lower part of his leg became immensely swollen and the pain unendurable, a Syracusan surgeon opened the vein at his ankle. But when once the blood had begun to flow, it ran night and day, and with all they could do they were unable to stop the flow until he lost consciousness; then, however, it stopped. So it came about that after being carried back to Sparta he was ill the rest of the summer and throughout the winter.

-- Xenophon, Hellenika 5.4.58

Agesilaos recovered, though, and continued fighting for Sparta until he died aged 84.

But perhaps Agesilaos (A-ge-suh-LAY-us) is a bit of a mouthful for a dog's name :(