Depictions of Underarm Phalanxes

[Ghostmojo]

Surely when you fight in a rank in a hoplite phalanx - all shields overlapping and touching you can only really prod and thrust at the enemy with your spear OVER the shields and therefore overarm?

All of the images above just strike me as artistic licence. They are showing individual warriors in somewhat dramatic posed fashion. None apart from the odd image like the Chigi line-up is showing a mass of hoplites fighting shoulder to shoulder.

You get far more power stabbing with a spear with your arm bent up from the elbow and therefore thrusting overarm, than ever would underarm which is more difficult to control.