Herbst HumanitiesFredricksmeyer

The Diffusion of Martial Aretê:

Hoplite Phalanx

hoplite

hoplite panoply-

Gk. pan, [h]oplos-weapon, but term refers to shield and armor as well as weapons used by hoplitesoldiers: weight of complete panoply up to 60 lbs., average Greek male5.5 feet tall

shield, called hoplon(ca. 20 lbs.)

large-chin to knee

center strap and handle toward side

convex with rim on inside

wood with bronze surface

the Spartan lamda-Gk. L, for Laconia; see adjective laconic: Leonidas-Eatwell, for tonight we dine in Hades. Caesar-The die is cast (in reference to his crossing the Rubicon in 49 BCE).

helmet (Corinthian)

breastplate

greaves

(thrusting) spear

sword

hoplite warfare: the phanlanx (ca. 750 BCE)-

term phalanx means closely packed ranks: related to the anatomical term phalanges (plural of phalanx)-the bones of the hands or feet “which fit togetherlike infantry in close order”

spears jutting out in front (thus shield wall + spear hedge)

momentum

-after slow advance that sped up in the last several yards and thus created an initial, shattering impact

-Herodotus: Greeks at Marathon first to attack enemy at a run

-perhaps also to minimize losses from Persian archers

mass (in Greek practice, 8-50 rows of men deep) and “pushing match” theory

term phalanx first appears in Iliad, also see description at Iliad 16.218-24 (trans. Lomdardo); anachronistic in Homeric context of 13th century BCE warfare, in which individuals transported to locations on battlefield where they fought one-on-one

originated before Greeks-

Sumeria

Egypt

Greeks use the hoplite phalanx to greater effectiveness than any predecessors! for example, at the Battle of Thermopylae (480): 300 Spartiates + approx. 1,500 other Greeks vs. ca. 250,000 Persian troops (with the help of topography)

birth of the western war machine-V. D. Hanson

evolution of tactics and the phalanx-

Battle of Marathon (490) Athenians vs. Persians:thin center with thick flanks

Pheidippides

Battle of Leuctra(371 BCE) Boeotians and Thebans vs. Spartans: thin right and center with thick left flank

Spartans defeated by

-the superior tactics of Theban general Epaminondas (see above)

-army that includes the (homosexual) Sacred Band of Thebes

Macedonian phalanxas perfected by Philip II-

longer, counterweightedspear (sarissa), held with two hands, and with smaller shield fastened to forearm

professional army, including mercenaries

more complicated tactics (adopted from those of Epaminondas, from whom Philip had learned while a “hostage”)

-Macedonian phalanx used to pin down center of enemy line

-skirmishers (lighter, more mobile infantry armed with bows, javelins, slings, etc.) and cavalry (armed with thrusting spears and swords, but no shield!) attacked the enemy flanks

Battle of Chaeronea(338 BCE), Athenian and Theban phalanxes crushed by Macedonia, end of Greek independence

Alexander the Great(son of Philip II of Macedonia)-

tutored by Artistotle

supposedly knew the entire Iliad verbatim, and worshipped Achilles

at 18 served as the decisive general in the Battle of Chaeronea

at 20, after the assassination of his father, became the King of Macedonia and Commander-in-Chief of

its armed forces

by 33, when he died, had employed the Macedonian phalanx, with the addition of siege weapons,to

conquer the entire known western world east to the Indus River, and converted the entire eastern

Mediterranean into a culturally Greek and Greek-speaking (koine) world (see the New Testament)

Roman legions-

eventually replace the hoplite phalanx, with greater maneuverability and the ability to take advantage of the phalanx’ naturally vulnerable flanks (especially the right) and rear; plus Roman roads; pax Romana

social implications of Greek hoplite phalanx starting in the 8th century BCE-

democratization of warfare: citizen soldiers

eventual rise of tyrants who support the middle class

the ethic of heroic cooperation and mutual interdependence, see the Odyssey

diffusion of martial arête

"Now of those who dare, abiding one beside another, to advance to the close fray, and the foremost champions, fewer die, and they save the people in the rear; but in men that fear, all excellence[arête] is lost. No one could ever in words go through those several ills, which befall a man, if he has been actuated by cowardice. For it is grievous to wound in the rear the back of a flying man in hostile war. Shameful too is a corpse lying low in the dust, wounded behind in the back by the point of a spear." Tyrtaeus