[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[Bryan]

If reach was the main criteria for hoplite effectiveness, why didn't the Greeks go longer? Iphicrates' spear and the Macedonian cavalry's xyston were both one handed weapons much longer than the traditional dory. You'd think if hoplite battle came down to couched arm spear assaults and nothing more, then they would have figured out centuries earlier that the side with the slightly longer spear will always win. And yet, that's not at all how it happened.