New hoplite book

[PMBardunias]

Are there any pictures or diagrams describing techniques of the sort?

I have been in crowds of this density only on the floor at rock concerts, at two of which we had to hand up passed out people to the security staff. In these cases we were pushing forward only moderately and unconciously towards the stage and due to barriers we were probably less than 20-30 deep. Even 8 men pushing intentionally could produce a much higher sustained force. Sustaining it is the big difference between an intentional movement such as in othismos or a crowd fleeing a fire, as opposed to at a concert where many people are pushing backwards.

For some video of modern medieval reenactors who have come up with the same solution of packing in close to push against a shield-wall, see by blog listed on page 1 of this thread. I recently noticed I was mentioned on a Russian website, where a fellow ridiculed the use of such a video. Some people just do not understand the value, within limitations, of reenactment.

By the way, you wrote of water analogies earlier, here is the account of a victim of a crowd disaster that took 9 lives in NY a few years ago. People were pushing to get through a door and into a basketball game:

"I thought to myself, 'If I don't hurry up and get through the door, I am going to pass out.' My arm was pinned against my body and I couldn't move it, but I had one hand free and I grabbed hold of the door hinges and pulled myself through. It was like you were underwater and you came above and got air."

Importantly, it also shows that even at these densities if you have a raised arm, you can use it effectively- like to stab someone.