How often did the Othismos Occur?

[rrgg]

I was following some discussions on the Othismos as a hoplite tactic seperate from the doratismos. And began to wonder that if this was the case how often would a pushing match occur? Would you expect it to occur at least once every battle whenever two hoplite forces met or was it done only on rare occasions for specialized purposes conditions such as driving back the Spartan right at Leuctra? If the latter what would the right conditions be?

On a somewhat related note would it be correct to say that the Othismos was not the same as a 'regular' charge in that the goal is to physically push the enemy back instead of merely closing to kill with swords or shorter weapons?

[Macedon II]

This issue has been exhaustively discussed on multiple occasions. You could consider taking a look in past threads. It all boils down to which theory you personally prefer. What is absolutely certain is that no surviving treatise nor any ancient text specifically deals with the issue and that "othismos" as a word is usually used to denote the pushing back of a battle line for any conceivable reason. Having that in mind you should first define what theory you support.

(ANY ADMIN TO REACTIVATE MY ACCOUNT???? - Macedon)