Othismos: Classical vs Crowd Theory Othismos

[PMBardunias]

Something to note is that with four ranks these people doesn't seem to suffer from asphixiation even without aspides. On the other hand,looking closely to them,they seem to make some use of the pike,as it croses their abdomen,to push the man in front.
The other question is,if they can do it without aspides,would it really be so unthinkable to apply full pressure in similar groups of hoplites? Would it really be more dangerous?

My support for this type of pushing is obvious, so I'll just leave it at that. I knew a fellow in the Sealed Knot society from one of the online lists and he noted two things. It is hard to breathe when in the middle of that pack, and many of them wear back and breast plates that alleviate this. With only 4 ranks I doubt they can generate enough sustained force to be lethal in any case. The problem with only 4 ranks is that 4 is really too shallow to have a true crowd effect- a crowd model for example required 4 men in the rear of the "files" just to pack the front rankers tight in a true crowd. So what happens with 4 may have little in common to what happens in 12 ranks, just as what happens in a man on man clash bears little in common to a pushing file.

I advise againt othismos with deeper files primarily due to CYA, so I am not held responsible for experimenting with humans, but there are good reasons for concern that are not obvious. Two things happen to the force as files get deeper. Obviously the force increases, but there is more to it. The ability to sustain high pressure is much greater, because if you have 4 ranks and a man slacks off that cuts a quarter of the force, with 8 the loss is halved. This means that even without tight coordination, deep files can maintain high pressure over time. Second, the peak pressure can go real high. Most of the time a lack of perfect coordination will keep the men from producing the maximum force in any file depth, but sometimes everyone will move in perfect unison almost by accident. These accidental peaks in force are leathal in crowds, and with enough men pushing, you can squash a man enough to damage him lethallly in short order. Of course for real hoplites generating a maximum push in unison was the goal. It is my opinion that the aspis- held properly (important!)- will protect a man from this, but I would not bet your life on it.

No man alive has any experience with the force that could be generated by 12-25 ranks of determined and trained hoplites. Remember these forces occur by accident in modern crowds, while hoplites would be trying their best to create and, more importantly, sustain them. If done properly they should generate well above 1,000 pounds of force,I don't know how high peaks could be. Its something of a catch-22. If your group is generating this level of force you are probably going to have injuries, if they are not, they you are not reenacting an accurate othismos and the usefulness of such data is limited. Remember this is essentially a weapon of war. No one would think of reenacting with sharp spears and swords on humans, I advise against this as well.