![]() Prior to the Polybian reforms, all these troops fought with hastae (short spears, ~7ft) and the gladius short swords. Originally legions were arranged into three cohorts: hastati (poorest, youngest and least experienced, with usually without full armor), principes (prime troops, usually equipped with chain mail) and triarii (veteran solders, all excellently equipped). The early roman legions were essentially an evolution against phalanx and shield wall formations employed by the Italian tribes. This was fine for the Macedonians, who used phalanxes to hold enemy infantry in place while their cavalry flanked it, but ran into problems when they were used by Greek armies without excellent cavalry or skirmisher support. The problem with these formations was they were not very maneuverable, and their cohesion could be broken up by rough terrain. Back rank soldiers holding their pikes upright or at an angle also served to break up incoming missile fire. However, due to the size of their spears, they used much smaller shields, which did not fully overlap (so fit 3 of the 4 possible criteria). They were drilled to not let opposing infantry close under their pikes, and as long as they could do this, they were extremely effective. That eventually evolved into the Macedonian phalanx (by way of Thebes), where professional, drilled soldiers wearing breastplates and chain skirts, who carried ~18ft pikes and short swords in an 8-deep formation. This made the formation cheaper and more maneuverable, but these phalanxes had to be supported by sling and javelin equipped auxiliary troops since there armor wasn't sufficient to protect against ranged attack. As the Greek empires expanded into Thrace and Asia minor, where most of the soldiers were likely to be professional rather than land-owning citizens, the amount of armor was decreased while the spear grew in length. The hoplite was named for his shield, the hoplon, which was large, and and designed to overlap with his neighbors, making a shield wall. The spears were essentially double tipped, which would give you two shots if you're spear broke, which was fairly common. It was not uncommon for bodies to be wedged upright from the pressure until one side broke. ![]() Battles were typically decided by whose front rank broke first, which was more a function of pushing from behind than individual skill up front. is the key factor the overlapping shields, many ranks deep with close order, fighting in a single line or using spears? In the classical hoplite phalanx met all four criteria, with everybody fully armored in bronze, each soldier had a spear (~10ft) and short thrusting sword, and were typically arranged between 6 and 24 men deep with the most experienced soldiers in the front and the back rows (to prevent less experienced soldiers from fleeing). It depends on your definition of phalanx. Where this myth came from, I have no idea, but I've yet to see any real world evidence that it's anything other than a myth, and that includes demonstrations from Roman reenactors trying desperately (and often hilariously) to justify it. It's always a more awkward draw, under any circumstances, and never takes less room than drawing across your body. Alternatively, you can draw with your thumb up and then have to juggle the sword to flip it over. ![]() If you draw in the natural orientation (thumb down), where does your elbow go? JOINTS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. You can do this in the tightest close order shieldwall, with a sword in excess of the length of a gladius. Second, you can draw a sword from the left hip, point down, raise your hand overhead, then either stab straight from there or rotate it point up without changing your grip. You might want to try that before spouting it as fact.įirst, if you don't have room to draw a sword, how are you throwing the pilum that proceeds drawing it?
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