07-19-2005, 11:55 PM
Quote: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.
Homeros wrote the Iliad around 700BC and one of the earliest evidences or mentions of any kind of the phalanx formation was (according to what I've read untill now, correct me if I'm wrong) around 800BC. So, we could asume that Homeros used the formation and tactics of his own time to write the Iliad. Something like Hendrik Conscience did with his book "the Lion of Flanders" (a book he wrote in 1830 concerning a battle dating from 1302). Conscience used the warfare of his own ages to describe a battle 500 years before. Probably Homeros did a simular thing with his books. Although, that's what I think. The "modern" ancient Greek phalanx like we imagine (the Spartan/Athenian phalanxes during the Persian and Peloponesian Wars) would be originally used between 500 and 600BC.
