Infantry Units and Formations of Macedon - Phalanx Formation, Peltast, Macedonian Phalanxes, Pezhetairoi, Argyraspides, Hypaspists, Agema (Paperback)

Chapters: Phalanx Formation, Peltast, Macedonian Phalanxes, Pezhetairoi, Argyraspides, Hypaspists, Agema, Leukaspides, Asthetairoi, Chalkaspides. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 52. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The phalanx (Ancient Greek:, Modern Greek:, phlanga) (plural phalanxes or phalanges; Ancient and Modern Greek:, phlanges) is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons. The term is particularly (and originally) used to describe the use of this formation in Ancient Greek warfare, although the ancient Greek writers used it to also describe any massed infantry formation, regardless of its equipment, as does Arrian in his Array against the Allans when he refers to his legions. In Greek texts, the phalanx may be deployed for battle, on the march, even camped, thus describing the mass of infantry or cavalry that would deploy in line during battle. The word phalanx is derived from the Greek word phalangos, meaning the finger. The term 'phalanx' itself, as used today, does not refer to a distinctive military unit or division (e.g., the Roman legion or the contemporary Western-type battalion) but to the general formation of an army's troops. Thus a phalanx does not have a standard combat strength or composition but includes the total number of infantry, which is or will be deployed in action in a single phalanx formation. Many spear-armed troops historically fought in what might be termed phalanx-like formations. Indeed, the word has come into use in common English to describe "a group of people standing, or moving forward closely together"; c.f. "a phalanx of police." This article, however, focuses on the use of the military phalanx formation in Ancient Greece, the Hellenistic wor...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=1353452