specifics in Spear fighting combat

[PMBardunias]

Thanks for the information This topic is going back more to the group combat, i was hoping that there was a more specific way to fight one on one with a spear and shield. I thought that the greeks, if anything, would be the ones to have perfected this. but apparently not.

Well, lets not throw the baby out with the bath water! The reason we keep going back to group combat is that you are trying to find a use for this in heated battle, for which there is little evidence. That said, just the fact that there were so many teachers of homplomachia implies that there were relatively advanced techniques that needed such teaching. Since most killing probably occurs in the phase after one army flees, being able to defend oneself, as opposed to tossing your aspis under a bush and sprinting, would be useful. Think of it this way: You and your friends are chasing fleeing foes. To the right you have a group of men fleeing like rabbits with skirts flapping- there might as well be a bulls-eye drawn across each cheek! On the other side there's a dude who gets all Bruce Lee every time someone get close. Who do you go after?

A short spear wielded with one hand and a shield would seem to me to be an effective combination. I thought that maybe the ancient Greeks would have done more with it, and that it may have been recorded somewhere.

The hoplite spear was actually pretty long- probably near the limit of what can be effectively handled with one hand and and overhand stab. There is some evidence that they were tapered and balanced well back from the halway point. This would give it a long reach for its length, but may have been a bit awkward compared to the shorter spears we see elsewhere.