specifics in Spear fighting combat

[Paullus Scipio]

Kineas wrote:-

Likewise, when he has the Thebans form in great depth, he notes first that by doing so they endangered all their allies who had agreed on a different depth (a VERY important line for this argument you guys are all in, because it meas that everyone used different depths and had to be standardized before battle--go figure)

...I think you'll find that no-one in this debate disputes that depths could vary for a variety of reasons ( see for example my earlier post ).

but I think we have to take all of Xenophon's views of depth with a grain of salt

For the record, here they are, as spoken by the fictional Cyrus in the Cyropaedia ( Education of Cyrus), a thinly disguised fiction which contains many tactical ideas.....
" when Phalanxes are too deep to reach the enemy with weapons, answered Cyrus," how do you think they can either hurt their enemy or help their friends?. For my part, I would rather have those hoplites who are arranged in columns a hundred deep, drawn up ten thousand deep; for in that case we should have very few to fight against. ( i.e. on a narrow front). According to the depth that I shall give my line of battle, I believe I shall bring the entire line into action and make it everywhere mutually helpful.."
Here, he advocates Line over Column, and he seems to have been right, since no-one subsequently adopted Theban tactics; for it was not the depth that was the secret of Epaminondas' success, as Xenophon knew....