Phalanx Mobility

[Dan Howard]

What other possible way could a spear of this length be held? Overarm would not be possible. That figurine does not have a guige on the shield, as mentioned by Aug33. A shield strap would allow a lot more shield manoeuvrability, since both arms would be occupied by the sarissa.

Regarding the "phalanx". Homer uses the word many times and Professor Joachim Latacz has analysed the hexameter composition of the Iliad and demonstrated that it can be dated back to the time of Linear B, so it is possible that the phalanx was around a lot earlier than many assume. It is also possible that Homer's phalanx and the classical phalanx were different formations.