New hoplite book

[PMBardunias]

I have found personally that by sinking down about a foot in your stance helps your center of gravity.

Lowering your center of gravity is correct for pushing match between two opponents. One of the first things that football linemen lear is how to stay low- usually by being made to run through a channel with low slung metal bars that make a lyrical and embarrasing chime as your helmet bounces of each. This is also how men push in a rugby scrum. They lower their bodies and more importantly, lock them together by hooking shoulders behind thighs and under arms, to form a single solid mass. They do this because any motion between individuals in the scrum bleeds force from the forward thrust.

Unfortunately hoplites cannot do this with an aspis. Thus, they have to lock their bodies together in the only manner possible, standing almost straight up, shield across their chest, pressed into the man's back in front, with a shield pressed to their back behind. This leads to a less powerful thrust per man than generated by rugby players, but is easier to add additional ranks to. Theoretically there is no limit to how many men you can add, the problem is that in order to push forward with maximal force you all need to lean forward in synchrony. This probably becomes impossible above a certain size, leading to multiple waves of force moving through a long file, often counteracting each other.