Phalanx warfare: Closing of the ranks

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Try to find Xenophon's Agesilaus. Or is it in the Hellenica?

The advantage of having 25 or 50 men is an obvious one. The enemy cannot even hope to break or beat that phalanx. Why would they even want to close in with them? How many can you kill? There will always be innumerable men behind which you have to fight. And if 12 men is all that can push this means that in a phalanx of 50 only about 12 would be pushing to stop the enemy. Anyone behind that would be fresh. The battle for him could have ended without even feeling the slightest poke, even if the front rankers were giving it all!

I guess I'm describing the psychological advantage of the deep phalanx, but it comes with the practical problems that it presents to the enemy.

In the Peloponnesian war the Thebans were fighting deeper than usual, but that was breaking their rules with the other Boeotian cities. They had agreed to a maximum depth which the Thebans exceded. Why would they set such a rule? Because the greater the depth, the shorter the frontage and thus the fewer the men who are actually fighting. You also sacrifice from the total length of the allied front, risking to be enveloped by the enemy.