[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[JaM]

yeah, because thats what i said, right?  NO, read again...

about spear length  lets quote Chris again ->

Kromayer and Veith, from an analysis of representations of the spear in vase paintings, calculated that the average length of the weapon was approximately one and a half times the height of its bearer.

 J. Kromayer and G. Veith, Heerwesen und Kriegfu¨hrung der Griechen und Romer (Munchen, 1928), p. 51

Hanson suggests that the average hoplite was 170cm tall. Angel also provides a figure of 170cm, while Gabriel and Metz base their conclusions on a height of 172cm. The bodies of Spartans discovered in the Kerameikos have been measured and, although the results of the forensic analysis into their stature have not yet been released, their height is said to be the same as that of a modern man; suggesting a height of around 170cm.

- Hanson, Wars, p. 59
-  W. Donlan and J. Thompson, ‘The Charge at Marathon: Herodotus 6.112’, Classical Journal 71:4 (Apr–May 1976), p. 341; Gabriel and Metz, Sumer to Rome, p. 71.
- Personal correspondence with J. Stroszeck of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut 1–4 March 2008; see also: J. Stroszeck, ‘Lakonisch-rotfigurige Keramik aus den Lakedaimoniergräbern am Kerameikos υon Athen’, AA 2 (2006), pp. 101–120; van Wees, Greek Warfare, pp. 146–147; C.F. Salazar, The Treatment of War Wounds in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Leiden, Brill, 2000), pp. 233–234; W.K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War – Part IV (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1985), pp. 133–134; L. van Hook, ‘On the Lacedaemonians Buried in the Kerameikos’, AJA 36:3 (Jul–Sep 1932), pp. 290–292

A re-examination of the archaeological and artistic evidence, as well as modern estimates and calculations for the characteristics of the hoplite spear, demonstrates that the average hoplite weapon was approximately 2.5m in length, had an iron head weighing around 153g and bronze sauroter weighing 329g affixed to either end of a shaft that had either a uniform diameter of 25mm or tapered from 19mm at the front to 25mm at the back. The overall weight of the spear was over 1.3kg and had a point of balance approximately 89cm from the rear end of the weapon.