Wielding a sarissa overarm

[Justin Swanton]

Can't be done. Try holding a 6kg/6m pole in the position you suggest and tell us how it took for you to drop it.

It can if you hold your right arm close to your chest. Check 16th and 17th century illustrations from military manuals. Pikemen use their left arm as the fulcrum for the pikes but keep the arm close to the chest. These pikes are as heavy or heavier than Macedonian pikes since they are not counterweighted, obliging the pikeman to push down hard on the end of the pike with his right arm to keep it pointed up.

It's the same principle as holding a bow at full draw (I used to do archery). You transfer the weight of the drawn bow from the muscles to the bones in a kind of 'lock' position that needs relatively little muscle power to maintain - how else did English longbowmen use a bow with a draw weight in excess of 100 pounds?

For the pike, holding the arm close to the chest transfers the weight of the pike to the radius and ulna, which then transfers it to the humerus which transfers it to the shoulder. You could hold a pike like that for ages. Try it.