09-12-2010, 04:01 AM
Paralus wrote:
To elaborate, in the time of Xenophon, Hoplites employed two 'orders' - the 'normal' order which had no special name, with 4 cubits/6 ft of frontage per hoplite ( what in modern terms is 'open' order) and a 'close order' of 2 cubits/3 ft frontage, adopted just before contact with the enemy, called 'pyknosis' and occasionally the term 'synaspismos'/locked shields was used, for in 'pyknosis' the 90cm/3 ft aspides/shields touched, with each hoplite in a 'three-quarter' stance as depicted in iconography.
The use of the 'sarissa' two-handed necessitated a side-on stance, which together with smaller rimless shields/peltae c. 70 cm/26-28 ins in diameter necessarily held at an angle, allowed an even closer order, so that the Hellenistic manuals describe three 'orders' - 'normal' that had no special name, 6 ft per man; 'pyknosois'/close, used for fighting, 3 ft per man; and a new 'synaspismos' 1 cubit/18 inches per man - a prickly hedgehog normally used for stationary defence but in which a slow advance was also possible. This latter formation was not possible for hoplites.
The term 'Macedonian phalanx' means a sarissa armed one, and the fact that it was for this sarissa armed formation that 'synaspismos'/locked shields of 1 cubit frontage was invented make it certain that Diodorus is telling us that Philip devised both the sarissa armament, and it's 'special' formation, at the beginning of his reign.
Quote:One or more of the tactical manuals agrees with that (our resident keeper of "The Manuals", Paul Mac, will save me searching I'm sure....).:lol: :lol: :lol: .....Asclepiodotus to be exact - who says 10-12 cubits, consistent with Theophrastus for the early sarissa.....
Quote:That there is no evidence for this weapon prior to Chaeronaea does not mean such absence proves absence of weapons: the material is rather patchy to say the least. Add to that Diodorus’ categorical statement that Philip, at the commencement of his reign, was the first to devise not only the “Macedonian phalanx” but also its “sunaspismon” order.
To elaborate, in the time of Xenophon, Hoplites employed two 'orders' - the 'normal' order which had no special name, with 4 cubits/6 ft of frontage per hoplite ( what in modern terms is 'open' order) and a 'close order' of 2 cubits/3 ft frontage, adopted just before contact with the enemy, called 'pyknosis' and occasionally the term 'synaspismos'/locked shields was used, for in 'pyknosis' the 90cm/3 ft aspides/shields touched, with each hoplite in a 'three-quarter' stance as depicted in iconography.
The use of the 'sarissa' two-handed necessitated a side-on stance, which together with smaller rimless shields/peltae c. 70 cm/26-28 ins in diameter necessarily held at an angle, allowed an even closer order, so that the Hellenistic manuals describe three 'orders' - 'normal' that had no special name, 6 ft per man; 'pyknosois'/close, used for fighting, 3 ft per man; and a new 'synaspismos' 1 cubit/18 inches per man - a prickly hedgehog normally used for stationary defence but in which a slow advance was also possible. This latter formation was not possible for hoplites.
The term 'Macedonian phalanx' means a sarissa armed one, and the fact that it was for this sarissa armed formation that 'synaspismos'/locked shields of 1 cubit frontage was invented make it certain that Diodorus is telling us that Philip devised both the sarissa armament, and it's 'special' formation, at the beginning of his reign.
"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
