New hoplite book

[Old Husker]

Yes, indeed; however, this does raise an interesting (and, perhaps, unanswerable) question about where Epiminondas was standing when he shouted his famous request (if this is not simply a myth). It seems that there was a strong custom in the Hellenic Era for commanders to take post near the front of the phalanx (maybe first three ranks) on the offensive wing (usually the right, but the left in the case of Thebes at Leuctra and Mantinea). The custom of generals leading a fight from the front seems to have been commonly followed from at least the time of Leonidas at Thermopylae through the career of Alexander the Great. And though this might have changed early on in the Hellenistic Era that immediately followed, I seem to recall that Plautus was still able to get a laugh out of his audiences in the late 3rd century by having one of his cowardly characters propose leading a brawl from the rear "in the manner of Pyrrhus," suggesting that (in Rome anyway) a 'real' commander was expected to be at the fore. Dangerous to be sure, but inspiring to the troops. Certainly, Epaminondas' opponent at Leuctra, Cleombrotus of Sparta, was near the front; and though he (like his fellow king Leonidas a century earlier) went down before the battle was over, he clearly inspired a long and dogged resistance by his badly outnumbered men prior to his death. Moreover, Epaminondas himself must have been close to the front in the last stages at Mantinea nine years later when he took that fatal javelin. These traditons are no doubt behind the idea that Epaminondas would have shouted his plea for "another step" at Leuctra from a forward position and then had it spread through the ranks by word of mouth. All the same, a post at the rear makes a lot more sense to me and certainly better fits the idea that orders regarding othismos (or most anything else) usually traveled from front to back.