The "Fred thread": the Argead Macedonian Army

[Paralus]

This is a tactic that he attributes to Pyrrhus in his Italian campaign of the early 3rd century, with later usage of much the same approach by Antigonus Doson at Sellasia (222), Philopoemen at Mantinea (207), and Antiochus the Great at Magnesia (190).

The account of Magnesia clearly has the phalanx - Antiochus' best troops - blocked in the centre of the field in divisions 10 x 32 deep. I do not believe they were alternately brigaded with other forms of infantry rather with elephants. Both Livy and Appian report this (though Appian errs with "22" rather than 2). One hardly thinks this a tactic conducive to articulating the phalanx. Indeed, shorn of its cavalry, the elephants contributed to its demise.