Sacred band
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Sacred Band can refer to one of two elite military units of the ancient world:
In ancient Carthaginian history the name referred to an elite military unit, which made up history's first special forces unit.
In modern Greek history, the name has been used to denote two military units:
- a battalion, founded by Alexander Ypsilantis in February 1821, composed of 500 young Greek students who rallied to his cause. It was destroyed almost to a man in the Battle of Drăgăşani (June 19, 1821).
- a special operations unit, formed in 1942 during the Second World War in the Middle East, composed entirely of Greek officers and cadets under the command of Col. Christodoulos Tsigantes. It fought alongside the SAS in the Libyan desert and the Aegean, as well as with General Leclerc's Free French in Tunisia. It was disbanded in August 1945, and is the precursor of the modern Greek Special Forces.
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