Spartan Fighting Techniques
Almost all of the ancient Greek armies were poor at all siege tactics and warfare except the Spartans. The Spartan armies though small in size, were well disciplined and almost unbeatable in combat.
One of the Spartan battle techniques or formations was the phalanx. The definition of phalanx is ‘a compact or close-knit body of people’, and that’s exactly what it was. The Spartan phalanx was column like formation, of Spartan infantry carrying long spears or pikes (a six foot long spear), and swords. Men in the phalanx also carried a hoplon, a round shield, from which the infantry took the name ‘hoplites’. A typical phalanx unit was ten men across and ten men deep, it was usual for many units to then combine their phalanxes together to create one large unit. In battle the phalanx was an offensive infantry for hand-to-hand combat. When an opposing army would advance, the first several ranks of the phalanx would lower their pikes and the two sides would thrust their spears forward, attempting to strike the opponents unprotected area. Once two phalanxes clashed together it would result totally in hand-to-hand combat. The only major hamartia of the phalanx was that because the hoplites carried their shields on the left arm, the phalanx was mostly protected on its left side – this lead to opposing armies targeting the right side of the opposite phalanx. |
[Artists impression of when two phalanx's crash in battle]
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