07-01-2009, 04:15 AM
Getting back to the question of when a Phalanx 'closed up' into 'close order' at 2 cubits/3 feet/0.9 m aprox, from 'open/normal' order of twice this distance, here are two relevant quotes from the version of the Hellenistic manual produced by the Roman writer Aelian....
...and...
These would tend to support my view that the Phalanx 'closed up' into 'Half-files' just before combat/charge distance.
D
Quote:"The close order (pyknosis) is observed when the commander joins battle with the enemy; the compact order (synaspismos) is resorted to when he wishes firmly to sustain the enemy's charge..."
...and...
Quote:"The Macedonian Phalanx has been deemed irresistable from the very nature of its construction. Each soldier, completely armed, when he takes close order, on the point of engaging, occupies only the space of two cubits. The length of the pikes..."(my emphasis)
These would tend to support my view that the Phalanx 'closed up' into 'Half-files' just before combat/charge distance.
D
"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
