Macedonian surrender

[PMBardunias]

Does anyone know the origin of the practice of Macedonian sarissaphoroi surrendering by raising their sarissa? At what battle was this first seen? Is there a greek precedent, perhaps among mercenaries?

I am interested in the way warfare becomes stylized. A number of authors have noted that a large percentage of soldiers do not fight with the primary aim of killing their foe, but to keep from themselves being killed. Not suprising perhaps, but it does have an influence on tactics and panoply that I'm not sure has been explored. This leads to one asking not what weapons sytem allows you to kill the most foes, but what system allows you to do the minimum expected of a warrior, while maximizing your protection. Obviously this requires that your foes be of the same mind-set, but there are circumstances which favor this.

I'll leave you with Archilochos:

I am a squire of the lord of war, Enyalius, and I understand the
lovely gift of the Muses.
Some barbarian is waving my shield, since I was obliged to
leave that perfectly good piece of equipment behind
under a bush. But I got away, so what does it matter?
Let the shield go; I can buy another one equally good.
A mercenary, Glaukos, is a friend-so long as he's fighting.

There's no respect or fame from townsmen when you're dead. It's the praise of the living we want-while we're alive. A dead man gets the worst of it, every time.