The Makedonian phalanx -- why such depth?

[Paullus Scipio]

I'm afraid that passage of Thucydides (V.66 onward) is not as revelationary as you might think. At the stage of the battle Thucydides is describing the armies 'drawn up', unit by unit. Under my hypothesis, the troops would be in 'normal'/open order, with 6 ft frontage per man. Thus a Spartan enomotia(platoon) of 32 would be drawn up in 4 files of 8 deep, which is 8 ranks, just as Thucydides says. This is before any action occurs, and King Agis orders units to fill gaps and then countermands the order, so the armies are still well apart at this stage, with units manoeuvring, which was done in 'normal'/open order.
Only as the charge is launched roughly when the armies are 100-200 yds apart, and once skirmishers had withdrawn, would the rear half of the enomotia 'close up', so that the platoon would now have stood in 8 half-files, 4 ranks deep, 3 ft frontage per man for actual combat - just as Xenophon describes.... :wink: :wink:

Thucydides uses this passage to try to calculate the strength of the Spartan army - and famously gets it wrong !! ( 448 shields x 8 adds up to only 3,584 Spartans). In fact it is more likely the Spartan contingent numbered something like double this (Thucydides evidently confuses Lochoi (battalions)and Morai (regiments)

This is also the battle where Thucydides tells us the Spartans "came on slowly and to the music of many flute players....it is designed to make them keep in step and move forward steadily without breaking their ranks.."