Spartan Mora regiments at Battle of Plataea

[Paralus]

The discussion has been going on for decades - and likely will continue to do so. You say mora he says lochoi: let’s call the whole thing off.

The source material – Thucydides included – displays a scant regard for our interest in military structure and the changes made to it over the classical period. That the Spartan army structure altered over time was made certain by diminishing numbers of homoioi. Thucydides himself hints at same with his description of the Lacedaemonians taken at Sphacteria (Periocoi brigaded with homoioi) and the appearance – unheralded – at Mantinea of “units” of Neodamodeis.

Whilst there are mora in Xenophon’s Hellenica they are, by the time of Epaminondas’ invasion of Lacedaemon, no longer in existence. At this time there are only twelve lochoi. He felt no need to enlighten us on the change – seemingly he expected his readers to know.

At Mantinea it is likely that Thucydides – or his source – utilised the terminology familiar to other Greeks, that is, “lochoi”. Mora, to my knowledge, is a term used by Xenophon to describe only Spartan armies.

My dear Paralus, I'm afraid you need to go back and read your Thucydides a little more carefully!

I have - each time I read it I can come up with another permutation!

I do, though, feel that Thucydides meant to convey a couple of things:

• The Sciritae, Brasideans and Neodamodeis are distinct units. His language (or the rendering of it in English) can be confusing. Yes he enumerates the line from left to right - that is clear. What also is clear (to me) is the fact that his listing makes plain that the Sciritae, Brasideans and Neodamodies are an entirely different species of infantry animal to "the Lacedaemonians themselves" – else there is no need for the clear distinction.
  
  Thucydides, in his calculations, excludes a part of those clearly delineated as a separate species (the Sciritae). He also, to my mind, excluded the others who, just as clearly, were not part of “Lacedaemonians themselves”: the Brasideans and freed helots.

Now, I realise you will disagree with that but it seems to me that if the Brasideans and Neodamodeis are to be included as Lacedaemonians – when they have just been clearly excluded as such – then we are in a position where we cannot believe much of what Thucydides writes for he contradicts himself internally.

When it comes to Agis’ command decisions, the argument is just as intractable. Firstly he is surprised by the Allies’ readiness to take the field. Secondly, though he has the larger army (which Thucydides states twice), he is overly concerned over his left being outflanked whilst his right overlapped “still farther beyond the Athenians”. At this point he moves two “units”/lochoi (the Sciritae and Brasideans) to the left. You would have it that he may have “intended to extend far enough to overlap the mantineans in turn”. On this Thucydides is rather plain; he moved them to “make the line even with the Mantineans” (5.71.3). Further, as Thucydides says, he wished the polemarchs to take two “units”/lochoi from “the he right wing; thinking that his right would still be strong enough to spare” the loss of such “units”/lochoi. All this while Thucydides has been describing wings (“horn”) and I find it unlikely that he thought the Spartan line had yet another “horn” or wing in the middle of the line.

The description of the lines closing should not be taken too literally. There is time, for example, whilst these lines are on the point of joining battle for generals to harangue their troops with exhortations and speeches. We have no idea how close the lines were and Thucydides’ narrative – as with most of the ancient sources – gives this something of a Hollywood timelessness: anything can and, occasionally, does happen whilst the lines approach one another. Indeed, Thucydides has already told us (70.1) that the armies had “met”.

Agis may not rank as the greatest of Spartan kings and he was under a cloud. Further, he had ten “Spartans of the officer class” who rode shotgun on him. I would doubt these would allow a command for two “units”/lochoi to be removed from the centre of the line to fill a gap created on the left. If the order went out it was to the right wing of the army.

The polemarchs clearly disobeyed. The reason may well be as you say (removing troops from the centre). It is just as likely that, in the march, the polemarchs decided removing troops from the right wing was just as suicidal – for the very reasons you mention (time, distance) or the fact that they in no way wished to surrender their demonstrable advantage over the Athenians.