Empirical testing of hoplite performance

[PMBardunias]

My own foray in that area says that not only are there patterns, but significant ones that may be illuminating if we explore them.

I welcome any new analysis on the topic, but take a look a Chris Mathew's 2009 paper on othismos. He read vases and came to a conclusion about spear use that I have yet to find another supporter of. To me it is simply too subjective. For example, he came away denying the overhand thrust by explaining that when hoplites are seen holding the spear in this position they are actually throwing them- as per the Homeric heroes. I would think any of the highly detailed vases that show two men engaged in combat, one with spear overhand, one underhand would speak volumes against this. He also relies to some extent on the frequency with which elements appear on vases, something that I think useless unless there is a way to weight vases by their attention to detail. Then there are conventions that artists were using that we simply have not defined. For example, is a sauroter more likely to be shown when it is within the main frame of the scene, and less so when it is at the very edge of the scene- sometimes the spear extends off frame? If so, then using the presence of sauroters to determine if a spear is a dory or a longche, as Chris does, is unreliable. I don't mean to pick on Chris, but his work is the most recent. I don't think it is his problem, but that the whole endeavor of reading high levels of behavioral detail from vases is probably intractable. As long as we don't seek to get too much from the images, they can be informative. There are papers on Hoplite footwork and sword strikes based on images, for example, that seem useful. As always though, too much is in the eye of the beholder.