Othismos: Classical vs Crowd Theory Othismos

[PMBardunias]

This is what I feared most. I wish you had not done this test without James to advise. I can tell from what you have described that you have done something very wrong in your "crowd". Did you just have these men stand upright and get pushed??? One on one a man pushing face on will out push one side-on every time, I have done this many times. But you have to do this properly, the way a football player pushes through the shoulder. What usually occurs is that the side-on man tries to get lower and gets pushed into the dirt, or he gets bucked up on his rear leg and ends up being knocked aside. The men in the crowd do NOT simply stand straight up when pushing!!!! James and I discussed this extensively, and I know this has been misunderstood in the past. I specifially warned him that you were going to do this if he did not advise otherwise.

Round 1: 2 on 2 pushing

Given the bio-mechanical advantages of the "classic" stance as described by our physical trainer, our starting line for the "classic" stance were Aurora and Bethany, weighing in at a collective 280 pounds. Opposite were yours truly weighing in at 280 lbs, and Chris Ryall, at 240 for a collective 520 pounds. All bore aspides.

The results were a decisive advantage for the women, who could push Chris and I back pretty much at will despite our best efforts.

This is impossible if you men were low enough and not standing straight up, which you must have been. The fact that your physical trainer saw the square to fore stance as disadvantageous is another indication that you were doing this wrong and probably just standing up. Any trainer with a knowledge of football or rugby would know that you never push side-on, but forward and low.

Round 1a: 2 on 4 pushing

Given the girls edge, we added 2 more in a second rank of the "crowd theory" side, Christian and Chase weighing in at 160 and 200 respectively.

With all four of us pushing in the "crowd theory" stance we could hold our own if we planted our feet and leaned, but if we tried to actually push ahead we lost ground to the 2 girls.

Here is an example of what you did wrong. The rear rankers are free to push in any style, as I have diagrammed. Thus what you would have had was two ranks of side-on pushers facing front ranks of men square to fore and rear ranks side-on or in an extremely low stance. Planting your feet and leaning is exactly what the front ranks should do, while the rear ranks actively push- perhaps even in a side-on stance. By doing so you are adding your body weight to the pushing force of the men at your own rear of the file. Rather than the crowd using its weight to magnify the push of its own side, my guess is that your weight was actually being thrown back in to your own rear ranks!

Round Three: 2 on 7
In the earlier pushes, the mid-rankers in the "crowd theory" team found their aspides being shoved up vertically into their necks, literally choking them. So their breathing was being impeded by the rim of their shield, rather than aided by the bowl.

Forcing the aspis down in subsequent pushes in an attempt to counteract this had another unanticipated result. While ameliorating the choking to some extent, Christian and Chase were literally lifted off their feet by the resulting pressures of the rank behind and the rank in front. So not only were they not contributing to the push, they were out of action for all intents and purposes.

Far from unanticipated this is something I discussed with James. The men off their feet should be contributing their weight forward, but because of your stance they again may have been aiding their foes.

Ah, well, there is always next time. In the 4 on 4 test what happened to the women when the men pushed them from behind? Could they remain standing side on the whole time? Where exactly was the shield from the man behind them resting? Any pictures would be welcome.