07-03-2009, 04:52 AM
Paralus wrote:
Here is what he had to say about forming synaspismos:-
"Doubling the files proved far easier than expected. Formed up in the two-cubit formation (close order/pyknosis) with pikes in the upright position....[the file] ...came up the interval between the other two files. They then levelled their pikes proving it was possible to 'double' the formation allowing only one cubit per man".
As for how it was done at Hydaspes, I venture to suggest that the rear Half-files simply closed up as Connolly described - this could occur while fighting was occurring , for the enemy line would be beyond the hedge of pikes, or perhaps more likely, during one of the various lulls when the two sides will have drawn apart to draw breath and reform.
If we compare Xenophon's Hoplite drill and the manuals, not to mention the occasional glimpses/descriptions in the various histories, I believe that the 'Half-files' system of closing up just before contact ( at about 1-200 yards distance) was the original and simplest, and that this was probably the system in use in Alexander's day, but that by the time of Polybius, two other methods of 'closing up' had evolved as drill became more refined and sophisticated - closing up by having every second man step out and forward, and closing up by files, that is laterally with the frontage shrinking. The latter seems to have actually been used at Cynoscephalae (197 BC)
Quote:I disagree totally with your mechanics and I do not believe it works for "synaspismos".....here and elsewhere, IIRC, you evidently have doubts about the Macedonian Phlanx forming 'synaspismos' on a one cubit frontage, as have others. As long ago as 2000 Connolly put together 16 re-enactors with pelta and sarissa to test various problems. The results , complete with photos, were published in JRMES 11 2000.
Here is what he had to say about forming synaspismos:-
"Doubling the files proved far easier than expected. Formed up in the two-cubit formation (close order/pyknosis) with pikes in the upright position....[the file] ...came up the interval between the other two files. They then levelled their pikes proving it was possible to 'double' the formation allowing only one cubit per man".
As for how it was done at Hydaspes, I venture to suggest that the rear Half-files simply closed up as Connolly described - this could occur while fighting was occurring , for the enemy line would be beyond the hedge of pikes, or perhaps more likely, during one of the various lulls when the two sides will have drawn apart to draw breath and reform.
If we compare Xenophon's Hoplite drill and the manuals, not to mention the occasional glimpses/descriptions in the various histories, I believe that the 'Half-files' system of closing up just before contact ( at about 1-200 yards distance) was the original and simplest, and that this was probably the system in use in Alexander's day, but that by the time of Polybius, two other methods of 'closing up' had evolved as drill became more refined and sophisticated - closing up by having every second man step out and forward, and closing up by files, that is laterally with the frontage shrinking. The latter seems to have actually been used at Cynoscephalae (197 BC)
"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
