frontage of a consular army

[Justin Swanton]

Firstly, I would re-emphasise a point I made several years ago now - that the 'open order' concept that Polybius seems to imply is, frankly, not practicable for the actual combat phase.  That believing that a Roman century 10-men wide in open order (each man with a 3ft gap between them - side-to-side and front-to-back) facing 20 close order 5-deep (the pikes that show forward, with the first 5 ranks ranks leaning forward, before they start to carry the pike almost vertically) could possibly resist the pike-phalanx - or even just a similar hoplite array (which stood equally shoulder-to-shoulder), is, I'm afraid, pretty non-sensical.  I have therefore become convinced that what Polybius describes was not the case for the actual combat phase when a closer order was necessary.

A closer look at Polybius makes clear IMHO that he wasn't talking about open order at all for the legionaries. Let me quote from my book (quicker to copy and paste):

A typical file had about three feet between the centre point of each man of the file which allowed the front man a certain amount of give when fighting his opponent:

Now, a Roman soldier in full armour also requires a space of three square feet. But as their method of fighting admits of individual motion for each man – because he defends his body with a shield, which he moves about to any point from which a blow is coming, and because he uses his sword both for cutting and stabbing – it is evident that each man must have a clear space, and an interval of at least three feet both on flank and rear, if he is to do his duty with any effect. – Polybios, Histories: 18.30

Note that Polybios’ three feet is measured from the centre point of a legionary to the centre point of each legionary beside him and the legionary behind him, which gives the spacing shown in Diagram 2.



Diagram 2: Polybios’ legionary deployment.

It is often assumed that Polybios’s legionaries each occupied a width of 6 feet since he affirms that one legionary faced two phalangites in battle and each phalangite occupied a space of 3 feet. This however arises from a misunderstanding of Histories: 18.29 which is commonly rendered as follows:

Many considerations may easily convince us that, if only the phalanx has its proper formation and strength, nothing can resist it face to face or withstand its charge. For as a man in close
order of battle occupies a space of three feet; and as the length of the sarissae is sixteen cubits according to the original design, which has been reduced in practice to fourteen; and as of these fourteen four must be deducted, to allow for the distance between the two hands holding it, and to balance the weight in front; it follows clearly that each hoplite will have ten cubits of his sarissae projecting beyond his body, when he lowers it with both hands, as he advances against the enemy: hence, too, though the men of the second, third, and fourth rank will have their sarissae projecting farther beyond the front rank than the men of the fifth, yet even these last will have two cubits of their sarissae beyond the front rank; if only the phalanx is properly formed and the men close up properly both flank and rear

And then a little later:

The result of this will be that each Roman soldier will face two of the front rank of a phalanx.

So three feet plus three feet equals six feet. The phrase ‘three feet of space’ is interpreted as three feet of width, which means that for Polybios a close-order phalanx corresponds to the intermediate order of the tacticians, clearly a contradiction.

But what exactly is Polybios saying? The phrase ‘space of three feet’ translates the Greek: ἐν τρισὶ ποσὶ – en trisi posi – literally ‘in three feet’. What do the three feet refer to? The answer lies in the passage that follows this phrase. After establishing the three feet distance, Polybios goes on to do some maths. A sarissa is 14 cubits (21 feet) long – a cubit being about 1½ feet. Of the 14 cubits, only 10 project in front of the phalangite’s grip. This allows one to calculate how many ranks would have their sarissa project past the front rank. The answer is 5 ranks, with the sarissa of the 5th rank projecting 2 cubits past the front rank men.

But something is missing from the equation: the distance between each rank. Without that factor it is impossible to calculate how many ranks can bring their sarissas to bear beyond the front of the phalanx. Polybios gives that distance. Where? When he states that a phalangite in close order occupied three feet (or 2 cubits), that is, three feet of depth. With that figure the maths is easy: 10 cubits minus 2 cubits (4th rank) minus 2 cubits (3rd rank) minus 2 cubits (2nd rank) minus 2 cubits (front rank) = 2 cubits of sarissa projecting ahead. Polybios indicates the width occupied by the phalangite file when he mentions that the phalanx is in ‘close order’. Each file of a close order phalanx occupies a frontage of one cubit, or about 1½ feet, as described by the tacticians. Hence a Roman soldier occupying a space three feet wide will face two phalangites in close order and ten sarissa-points along with them.

Does Polybios affirm that Roman soldiers occupied a frontage six feet wide? To reproduce the passage from Livy quoted above:

Now, a Roman soldier in full armour also requires a space of three square feet. But as their method of fighting admits of individual motion for each man – because he defends his body with a shield, which he moves about to any point from which a blow is coming, and because he uses his sword both for cutting and stabbing – it is evident that each man must have a clear space, and an interval of at least three feet both on flank and rear, if he is to do his duty with any effect. – Histories: 18.30

The phrase ‘a Roman soldier in full armour also requires a space of three square feet’ translates the Greek: ἵστανται μὲν οὖν ἐν τρισὶ ποσὶ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι – istantai men oun en trisi posi meta ton hoplon kai Romaioi.

Word for word: ‘they stand so then in three feet with arms also the Romans’. Or in better English: ‘So the Romans also occupy three feet when in arms.’ The ‘also’ refers back to the three feet of depth occupied by the phalangites, hence the meaning is that Romans ranks, like phalangite ranks, are three feet apart.

‘It is evident that each man must have a clear space, and an interval of at least three feet both on flank and rear’ translates the Greek: προφανὲς ὅτι χάλασμα καὶ διάστασιν ἀλλήλων ἔχειν δεήσει τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐλάχιστον τρεῖς πόδας κατ᾽ ἐπιστάτην καὶ κατὰ παραστάτην, – prophanes hoti chalasma kai diastasin allelon echein deesei tous andras elachiston treis podas kat’ epistaten kai kata parastaten.

Literally: ‘Clear that looseness [i.e. not to be too tightly packed] and standing-apartness from each other need to have the men at least three feet in respect of those behind and those on the side.’ In better English: ‘Clearly the men need to be loosely arrayed and have space between each other – at least three feet to the men behind and the men on either side.’

One measures the three feet from which point to which point? There can be only two points that apply in all cases: from the midpoint of one file to the midpoint of an adjacent file, or from the midpoint of a rank to the midpoint of the rank behind it. This means in fact that each man occupies a space measuring three by three feet.