Depictions of Underarm Phalanxes

[Sean Manning]

Thanks Paul, I'll add those articles to my "to read" list.

Do you mean that when formed up in a phalanx, with your shield centered in front of your body, you can move a 210-240 cm spear held towards the rear from under the shield to over without spearing someone behind you? Even if the shields get close together and the man behind starts pressing on your back with their shield? That would be interesting if true.

Yep, you actually can. I know that there has been a lot of speculation on how the hoplites avoided to injure one another, but actually I am of the opinion that the sauroter was not as widely used as we think it was. And of course, you can learn to handle the spear properly and as safely as possible even with a sauroter. If you just do not pull your spear very sharply (no reason why you should do that), even if the spearpoint of your sarauter bumps at an ally, there is no harm done. You could try that with some friends.

I don't have any Argive shields handy, so I will probably have to pass. The idea that spear-butts were not universal is interesting ... I've never looked into the evidence of how common they were.