12-06-2010, 11:32 PM
A visitor to my blog linked me to this video that I thought some of you might like as well.
[url:3t8k6g4q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXB9ip7SXmg[/url]
It is poor quality, but you can see many of the basic elements of human crowd behavior that would be tuned over time to become hoplite warfare. They opposing hooligans form up in two masses of deep "ranks" at close order, then march towards each other at a "Spartan-style" walk. There is no obvious leader and surely no drill involved. The two masses then collide, and having no spears they presumably are fist-fighting at the front lines. Meanwhile the rear ranks all crush forward and you can easily see how the "files" shorten as the space between each man in line becomes minimal.
It does not last long, the center of that crowd must be hell on an unequipped man, and soon they break just as hoplites would have eventually as well. Note that the whole mass spins, in this case clockwise, one wing winning, the other losing.
The most important take home message from this video is that the crowd can form this dense with no external boundary- walls for example- forcing them together. It is simply the urge to stay together and pressure from those men more loosely packed on the perifery that keeps the center tight. Also note the upright posture of the combatants while pushing each other. It would be difficult to find a better "reenactment" of othismos- I only wish they had aspides!
[url:3t8k6g4q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXB9ip7SXmg[/url]
It is poor quality, but you can see many of the basic elements of human crowd behavior that would be tuned over time to become hoplite warfare. They opposing hooligans form up in two masses of deep "ranks" at close order, then march towards each other at a "Spartan-style" walk. There is no obvious leader and surely no drill involved. The two masses then collide, and having no spears they presumably are fist-fighting at the front lines. Meanwhile the rear ranks all crush forward and you can easily see how the "files" shorten as the space between each man in line becomes minimal.
It does not last long, the center of that crowd must be hell on an unequipped man, and soon they break just as hoplites would have eventually as well. Note that the whole mass spins, in this case clockwise, one wing winning, the other losing.
The most important take home message from this video is that the crowd can form this dense with no external boundary- walls for example- forcing them together. It is simply the urge to stay together and pressure from those men more loosely packed on the perifery that keeps the center tight. Also note the upright posture of the combatants while pushing each other. It would be difficult to find a better "reenactment" of othismos- I only wish they had aspides!
Paul M. Bardunias
MODERATOR: [url:2dqwu8yc]http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=4100[/url]
A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
MODERATOR: [url:2dqwu8yc]http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=4100[/url]
A Spartan, being asked a question, answered "No." And when the questioner said, "You lie," the Spartan said, "You see, then, that it is stupid of you to ask questions to which you already know the answer!"
