05-30-2010, 02:44 PM
Interesting post...congratulations, George!
Might I point out that an obvious reason to form 'synaspismos'/overlapped shields is the same reason the Romans formed 'testudo' - to provide a solid wall/cover against missile weapons? ( The Aetolian cavalry would almost certainly have been javelin armed). Indeed, in one manual, the two formations are compared as similar......
I agree with you that the formation change that Antigonus' phalanx underwent was normal and expected - how could it be otherwise, for a command was given and something done which was a property of a deep phalanx...and on a fixed narrow front, how else could the rear phalanx 'close in' and add it's depth to the fighting, other than by interspersing/infiltrating the files of the leading phalanx? The manuals do indeed tell us that a phalanx needs a certain depth in order to form 'synaspismos'. Also, how can the two phalanxes be 'next to each other' - in other words, side by side - if they did not interlock?
I described Antigonus' manouevre as "brilliant" because, as I mentioned, it brought the second, fresh phalanx into action, unlike each phalanx simply forming synaspismos, which would have left the second phalanx still in the rear, unable to participate directly. The impact of fresh troops and increasing the numbers in the front rank will have been telling.
Might I point out that an obvious reason to form 'synaspismos'/overlapped shields is the same reason the Romans formed 'testudo' - to provide a solid wall/cover against missile weapons? ( The Aetolian cavalry would almost certainly have been javelin armed). Indeed, in one manual, the two formations are compared as similar......
I agree with you that the formation change that Antigonus' phalanx underwent was normal and expected - how could it be otherwise, for a command was given and something done which was a property of a deep phalanx...and on a fixed narrow front, how else could the rear phalanx 'close in' and add it's depth to the fighting, other than by interspersing/infiltrating the files of the leading phalanx? The manuals do indeed tell us that a phalanx needs a certain depth in order to form 'synaspismos'. Also, how can the two phalanxes be 'next to each other' - in other words, side by side - if they did not interlock?
I described Antigonus' manouevre as "brilliant" because, as I mentioned, it brought the second, fresh phalanx into action, unlike each phalanx simply forming synaspismos, which would have left the second phalanx still in the rear, unable to participate directly. The impact of fresh troops and increasing the numbers in the front rank will have been telling.
"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
