The Makedonian phalanx -- why such depth?

[Paralus]

At Mantinea (Thuc V.66 ff), we are told that the armies were already on the move in the final advance to contact …I would agree all units were most likely in close order. What is your point?

One of your main assertions for the existence of an opened order stage is that they had to advance in opened order due to the difficulty you perceive in moving in close order. Here at Mantinea they are obviously advancing the whole way in close order. There is no way that the phalanxes veered perhaps as much as hundreds of meters to the right in the course of a final 100 meter advance. From the description there is no reason to expect that they formed up in opened order, stood like that for a while, then doubled into close order. They formed directly from column into close order files and did not double down further. Then they simply advanced. Occam is surely on my side now.

Believe I noted this exact scenario back a page or so in this thread. I further believe it was dismissed - nice to see Paul bardunias and I are on the "same page" so to speak. Clearly the Spartans - confronted with an army in battle order and in advance of its former position (that is on the field and ready for "contact") - formed up "quickly" in battle order and just as ready for contact. They were, according to Thucydides, eight deep.... mostly - as he notes.

There has been an "epiphany" of sorts here...

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. .."