05-30-2010, 04:02 PM
Quote: Paulus Scipio wrote
...I haven't ignored it, rather concentrated on the crucial manouvre. Since I categorically stated that the 'double phalanx' was formed up one behind the other, then all too obviously they were not interlocked to begin with. George has given more detail regarding the word in question, which has MORE than one meaning! In the former instance the phalanxes are one behind the other, as in the most common and literal meaning. In the second instance something occurs which alters this, and transforms the formation into a single phalanx;"they used the property of the ONE phalanx 'epallelos'" to use George's words -now clearly 'epallelos' here cannot mean simply one behind the other, because they are already in this formation, and from context that must be 'epallelos' in the sense 'interlocked/mortised/next to each other'.
Actually, my point was that the second epallilos just meant "back", so the "epallilos fallanx" should be translated as the " back phalanx", epallilos being an adjective not saying anything about the distance of the two lines yet. Surely they did interlock later in the process, but these words do not yet imply that.
Quote: Paulus Scipio wrote
...that cannot be right, because it is not the sense of the whole thing, and in any event, with alternate advances and retreats, if the two phalanxes were not touching from the outset, they certainly would be before Antigonus gave his order. Nor would such a thing change any of the essentials of what was happening. The second phalanx merely closes a (purely hypothetical) gap?
I don't quite get that. Why would they have touched in the process? According to the Byzantine manuals, the second line could be even hundreds of yards behind the first line (they actually use "bowshots" as a metrical unit). Antigonus could as well have placed his second phalanx as far away as he would be willing to give way. When seeing that his men were being driven back in the close proximity of the second phalanx, he could have then given the sign for the latter to move in. This of course is just a hypothesis, but an answer to a good question about what would happen if a line of phalangites had been pushed onto a second friendly line... This is the main reason, why reserve lines cannot be placed very near to the front. A general has to give some space to his men to be pushed back. I just didn't understand your point about this "hypothetical gap"? What gap?
..Actually, I have not exactly understood what the disagreement is about here between the two big Ps, since I did not follow the discussion from the beginning. I will read through all the posts but could you please summarize it for me? Thx.
