07-20-2010, 06:01 AM
Old Husker wrote:
That this was not the usual case is clearly shown by Herodotus (IX.103) words in regard to mykale:
"The Persians, so long as their line of shields/spara remained intact, successfully repelled all attacks..... ( the Spartans)....they burst through the line of shields, and then fell upon the enemy in a mass assault...".
c.f Plataea Herodotus (IX.61)" First there was a struggle at the barricade of shields; then, the barricade down, there was a bitter and protracted fight, hand to hand...."
This idea of fighting from behind a line/barrier of shields is also shown on a number of vase paintings such as the (now lost) 'bassegio cup', where a hoplite slays a fallen warrior behind whom is a propped-up spara/shield. (illustrated on p.19"The Persian Army" (Osprey) N. Sekunda.
I suspect that Paul B.'s illustration shows what happened after the line of shields was penetrated - individual 'spara' were snatched up as the fighting disintegrated into individual combat.....
Quote:I believe that this must have been the mode in which the front line or two in a normal Persian battle array fought most of the time, holding the shield with one hand (even if it's bottom were resting on the ground or even shallowly entrenched) and striking overhead with a spear.
That this was not the usual case is clearly shown by Herodotus (IX.103) words in regard to mykale:
"The Persians, so long as their line of shields/spara remained intact, successfully repelled all attacks..... ( the Spartans)....they burst through the line of shields, and then fell upon the enemy in a mass assault...".
c.f Plataea Herodotus (IX.61)" First there was a struggle at the barricade of shields; then, the barricade down, there was a bitter and protracted fight, hand to hand...."
This idea of fighting from behind a line/barrier of shields is also shown on a number of vase paintings such as the (now lost) 'bassegio cup', where a hoplite slays a fallen warrior behind whom is a propped-up spara/shield. (illustrated on p.19"The Persian Army" (Osprey) N. Sekunda.
I suspect that Paul B.'s illustration shows what happened after the line of shields was penetrated - individual 'spara' were snatched up as the fighting disintegrated into individual combat.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
