Spear carrier
A spear carrier is a minor actor in a play or, by extension, a person whose actions are of little significance. Overview. In the world of opera, the term is sometimes used literally: When a male chorus is required, as in "Aida", for example, the onstage "army", armed with spears or swords, usually consists of several singers and as many who remain silent, filling out the group. The silent ones are known as spear carriers, to differentiate them from the male chorus members. The Ancient Greek term for spear carrier (δορυφόρος "doryphóros", from δόρυ, "spear," and φέρω, "to  carry") originally meant a soldier armed with a spear acting as a bodyguard or ceremonial guard to noblemen. The modern meaning has its roots in classical Greek tragedy; as plays such as "Antigone" and "Oedipus Rex" concerned the tragic fate of nobles, several nondescript soldiers or guards were required to appear in the background, and the term was used to describe the guards who just escorted the main characters. The term has survived verbatim but evolved in meaning from its metaphorical use, and today carries the general meaning of satellite in Modern Greek. The 1968 Nebula Award-winning novel "Rite  of Passage", by Alexei Panshin, mentions the protagonist's observations of the role of spear carriers in real life: