Phalanx warfare: Closing of the ranks

[Paul Bardunias]

OH NO! NOT AGAIN !
Aaaaaa....rgh! There are two horrible myths about Hoplite warfare that just won’t lay down and die, despite all the evidence being out there, and plain as a pike-staff. 

You need to reread the 2011 article.  There is no such thing as a tactic called "othismos".  I redefined the term as a state in which jostling pushing etc. occurs.  At Marathon we proved that all of your objections about men in files not being able to generate force, not being able to have an arm free to fight while doing it, and not being able to survive with aspis intact were completely unfounded.

"Xenophon in his Anabasis uses the word just once to describe the jostling and struggle of panicked troops trying to get through a gate, Polybius also uses it in this way ( and no other). In fact the word is used more frequently to describe jostling/struggling of crowds to get through doors and gates than in battle contexts."

YES!! Finally we agree! Othismos is not a combat term or a tactic, it simply describes a crowded condition like in the pit at a rock comcert or trying to get a crowd through a door when fleeing a fire.