The phalanx was a major characteristic of ancient Greek warfare. This was a battle formation which involved a dense block of men standing shoulder to shoulder with overlapping shields and long spears held before them. There is considerable debate over when the ancient Greeks began to use the phalanx formation. What does the evidence show?
What is the phalanx formation?
To begin with, it is important to understand what the phalanx formation really was. Rather than a loose body of soldiers charging at an enemy, the phalanx formation involved creating a tightly packed block of soldiers. They stood shoulder to shoulder, using overlapping round shields to protect themselves.
These Greek soldiers would also hold out a spear between 2 and 3 meters long in front of them. In later history, the Macedonian Greeks used a much longer type of spear called a sarissa, which could be as long as 7 meters (almost 23 feet).
In the early days of the phalanx, it was composed of eight lines of men. The use of this intimidating block of soldiers with spears held out before them was a major contributing factor in allowing the Greeks to become such fearsome conquerors.
When did the Greeks first start using the phalanx formation?
There is a major debate within academia regarding when the Greeks first started using the phalanx. Traditionally, it has been associated with hoplite armour. The basic characteristics of hoplite armour are a bronze cuirass, bronze greaves, a Corinthian helmet, a round shield, a spear, and a sword.
To many scholars, there is a clear connection between hoplite armour and the phalanx. This is partially because both of these things characterised early Greek warfare. Therefore, following this evident connection, many scholars believe that this shows when the phalanx first emerged.
There is also the crucial fact that hoplite shields had a support in the middle for the wearer’s arm to go through, with a grip near the rim. This was in contrast to the earlier single-grip shields, which were held near the middle. Some scholars have attempted to argue that the hoplite shield requires the phalanx formation, since holding such a shield out in front of a forward-facing body would leave the left-hand side of the shield unused.
Archaeology reveals that hoplite armor first appeared in the 8th century BCE, especially in the latter half of the century. Based on this, a common opinion is that the Greeks first developed the phalanx formation between 750 and 700 BCE.
Objections to this argument
Scholar Hans van Wees has presented a convincing rebuttal of the arguments regarding the use of hoplite shields. Ancient depictions of Greek soldiers indicate that they fought with their torsos twisted to the side, and the shield held out in front of them, diagonally towards the ground to rest on their shoulders.
This would place the soldier’s body directly behind the centre of the shield. Therefore, there is nothing about the hoplite shield that requires the use of the phalanx formation.
Several pieces of Greek artwork from the mid-7th century BCE apparently depict a phalanx. One example is the famous Chigi vase. However, as Hans van Wees explains, a closer examination reveals that this does not actually portray a phalanx formation.
For one thing, the first supposed row of soldiers on the left-hand side of the image contains more legs than heads. This suggests that the artist was not intending to depict a single row of soldiers, but rather, simply a mass of soldiers together. As for the soldiers behind them in the image, they are running, not standing or walking, in contrast to the soldiers in front of them.
This makes it very clear that the two groups of soldiers are not two rows in a phalanx. Rather, the soldiers at the back are evidently running to the aid of the ones at the front. The distance between them has been reduced to save space on the vase.
Similar arguments refute the other supposed depictions of the phalanx from seventh-century BCE artwork.
When did the phalanx really emerge?
There are various examples of poetry from the seventh century BCE that show that the hoplites regularly threw spears in battle. Artwork displays the same thing. These references and depictions strongly argue against the standardised use of the phalanx, since the phalanx involved holding spears out in front of the soldiers rather than throwing them.
In the last third of the seventh century BCE, artwork indicates that throwing spears became less common. This shift would have facilitated the emergence of the phalanx, although it does not require the phalanx.
Indeed, the poetry of Tyrtaeus (towards the end of the seventh century BCE) implies a certain degree of fluidity among the Greek soldiers. Again, this suggests that the phalanx had not fully come into use by that time.
Nevertheless, artwork indicates that the Greeks were already tending to fight in closer ranks than non-Greeks as early as the seventh century BCE. Therefore, it probably would not have taken long for the phalanx formation to develop, especially in view of the decreased use of throwing spears towards the end of that century.
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