The Makedonian phalanx -- why such depth?

[Paralus]

How do you arrive at these figures? If the most commonly identified location of the battle is used it was around 3 miles/4.8 kilometres wide at the river between sea and hills. The 20-21,000 man Phalanx would occupy a frontage of 2,500 yards -2,625 yards, whether in ‘open’ or ‘close’ order…..

Don't have the time at present: off to the Central Coast for the 25th wedding anniversary so this will be quick.

The nub of the problem is that you are deducing that the phalanx only marched in open order. I don't necessarily disagree. This, though, is different and Polybios doesn’t realise it. There is no reason to believe that it was a mandatory matter for the phalanx to assume "close order" only within the last 100 yards. Circumstances dictate the tactics. It is highly unlikely that a commander will have marched on the enemy – in possession of the field and with his cavalry deployed across the river in the van – in open order. Alexander, as any decent commander should have, deployed “ready for battle”, that is in close order, until the plain allowed for the deployment of cavalry to the wings. All the source material is consistent here.

This, as well as Polybios’ impossible ground (though I note, in passing, that Alexander’s phalanx did, indeed, cross this ground and the river) necessitated the “leisurely advance” whilst dressing the line.

It is abundantly clear – at Granicus, Issos and Gaugamela (not to mention Hydaspes) that the main battle line of Alexander was his national draft. This is – eventually – made plain at Gaugamela: it is only light infantry that support the cavalry on the wings.

The addressing the men “Greeks, Macedonians, et al” is a motif utilised in both major battles. It does not follow that Alexander rode along the battle line addressing the Greeks as part of the front line. Indeed the sources are clear they did not form a part of this line as they are enumerated. The idea that they have been “forgotten” does not wash: Gaugamela gives an indication as to where they might have been.

Alexander fought his “majors” with his national troops as the front line. To insist otherwise is to conjecture what the sources do not support.

How do you arrive at these figures? If the most commonly identified location of the battle is used it was around 3 miles/4.8 kilometres wide at the river between sea and hills. The 20-21,000 man Phalanx would occupy a frontage of 2,500 yards -2,625 yards, whether in ‘open’ or ‘close’ order…..

The distance of the field is Kallisthenes’ 14 stades: some 2.5 kilometres.