04-04-2009, 08:22 AM
Ruben wrote:
....where do you get this from? Nowhere that I am aware of is the sarissa described as this short......have you in mind that Macedonian 'prodromoi' ( scouts) were nicknamed 'sarrisaphoroi'?
The slangy-minded Greeks and Macedonians were as fond of nicknames as we are.......and in that case sarissa might not be a specific weapon (infantry pike 18-24 ft long), with the name mis-applied as a nickname, but instead, as Paralus has suggested, be a more generic 'extra-long spear' and thus anything longer than a 'dory'......except that a 12 ft cavalry spear had a specific name - 'xyston' !
Accordingly, I think 'sarissaphoroi' was just a loose use of the term as a nickname for the 'xyston' armed 'mounted scouts' ('prodromoi')
It is possible that the 'sarissa' was of Thracian origin, and adopted by Philip from them......
Quote:The smallest a sarissa could be is 12 feet, which would mean that there is no reason given Diodorus' statement that the spears of the Iphicrateans and the smallest sarissae could not be interchangeable
....where do you get this from? Nowhere that I am aware of is the sarissa described as this short......have you in mind that Macedonian 'prodromoi' ( scouts) were nicknamed 'sarrisaphoroi'?
The slangy-minded Greeks and Macedonians were as fond of nicknames as we are.......and in that case sarissa might not be a specific weapon (infantry pike 18-24 ft long), with the name mis-applied as a nickname, but instead, as Paralus has suggested, be a more generic 'extra-long spear' and thus anything longer than a 'dory'......except that a 12 ft cavalry spear had a specific name - 'xyston' !
Accordingly, I think 'sarissaphoroi' was just a loose use of the term as a nickname for the 'xyston' armed 'mounted scouts' ('prodromoi')
It is possible that the 'sarissa' was of Thracian origin, and adopted by Philip from them......
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
