05-21-2008, 08:40 PM
Whoops, sorry. I also wanted to say that I really like your diagrams, as they finally explained to me how "doubling" as explained in Arrian works. Nice! And simple! And I'll try it next weekend with 120 people...
And yes, I totally think this could be done on the scale of the lochoi. If you imagine a column of sub-divisions, each, say, eight men deep and eight wide... which would be the taxis of Asclepiodotus (that's four double files, or four dilochoi, according to his system). So let's have our army in a column of taxis. If you want to form front (that's the 18th C. order) the first Taxis halts, and the second forms, let's say, to the left. The third forms to their left, and the fourth to their left, and so on. In a small Hoplite phalanx (about 2000 men seems reasonable) you have 250 files, or roughly 33 Taxis. At open order, your column is only 250 men deep, or roughly 1500 feet. Given inertia and marching error and real terrain, you'll still have your line formed in about half an hour. (Hey, I've done this. Don't laugh!). Given weeks to practice and lots of people in shape, you can form up at the jog, and cut the time to about ten minutes. You can do it faster, but then you run the risk of somebody making a mistake that could really cost you.
You can 1/2 the time by having alternating Taxis form left and right, to either side of the first one that halts. I haven't seen any evidence of this, and frankly, it is a very late innovation in the 18th C., although I've heard (pure hearsay) that Spanish Pike tercios and roman Legions formed this way.
Does this need a diagram?
And yes, I totally think this could be done on the scale of the lochoi. If you imagine a column of sub-divisions, each, say, eight men deep and eight wide... which would be the taxis of Asclepiodotus (that's four double files, or four dilochoi, according to his system). So let's have our army in a column of taxis. If you want to form front (that's the 18th C. order) the first Taxis halts, and the second forms, let's say, to the left. The third forms to their left, and the fourth to their left, and so on. In a small Hoplite phalanx (about 2000 men seems reasonable) you have 250 files, or roughly 33 Taxis. At open order, your column is only 250 men deep, or roughly 1500 feet. Given inertia and marching error and real terrain, you'll still have your line formed in about half an hour. (Hey, I've done this. Don't laugh!). Given weeks to practice and lots of people in shape, you can form up at the jog, and cut the time to about ten minutes. You can do it faster, but then you run the risk of somebody making a mistake that could really cost you.
You can 1/2 the time by having alternating Taxis form left and right, to either side of the first one that halts. I haven't seen any evidence of this, and frankly, it is a very late innovation in the 18th C., although I've heard (pure hearsay) that Spanish Pike tercios and roman Legions formed this way.
Does this need a diagram?
Qui plus fait, miex vault.
