A Question of the Illiad

[Spartan198]

I was cruising Wikipedia and stumbled onto the article for the battle of Plataea. There was a sidebar (where an image had been deleted from) saying something about a reference to a possible use of the phalanx by the Trojan army in it (please, all Brad Pitt movie jokes aside here). Do any of you know what that may be?

I'd look for it myself, but my copy of the Illiad was sadly destroyed by a vindictive family member upon the realization that the movie wasn't 100% faithful to said work of art.

[Marshal Murat]

From my limited perusing of the Iliad (note the spelling), the battles were between heroes, with the corps of Greeks and Trojans standing back. They might have been in a fighting formation, and a phalanx would be the best description of it.

[rajpoot]

The weapons used, as I had understood when I read the book, were short swords and spears, bows and arrows. And ofcourse, the elites had chariots. The spears, cannot be the long pikes used in the phalanx formation, because many a tims, infact most of the times, they have been used as javelins insted of polearms.
And furthermore, the way the fighting is descibed, there is no mention of and sort of disciplined ranks that would be needed in the phalanx, it sounds more like it's raging all around the heros while they fight each other one to one.
Ofcourse, the fact that they say the heros came forward out of their lines to fight each other, can be used to say that the soldiers stood in ranks and files, but still, I doubt the phalanx thingy was used.

[Spartan198]

The phalanx isn't distinctive to phalangites with pikes, though. So the idea of a Trojan or Mycenaean phalanx wouldn't necessarily match the syntagma formation used by Macedonian and Diadochi pezhetairoi.

*title error acknowledged*

[rajpoot]

Yet, any formation of the phalanx type will need to be rigid, and nowhere in the book are such formations mentioned. Infact the books does not speak of the lower ranks at all, all it tells of are the heros so all we can do is speculate, and considering that the heros are using the spears more like javelins than melee weapons, and the general effect one gets when reading about combat, I don't think there were any rigid formations at all, which ofcourse seems weird, because unit formations have been used since ages, Trojans and Greeks flooding the field in an ill disciplined manner too unlikly......I'm confused now.

[Spartan198]

So, then, maybe it's safe to assume that if they did use rigid formations, Homer may not have viewed it as important enough to mention.

I agree how unlikely it would be that they fought in anything but rank and file, though.

[CBR]

There is nothing spectacular about the use of word "phalanx". It does not tell anything about what weapon was used or how trained they were or whatever. All it means is battle line, main group of soldiers etc.

Although a lot of combat at the time of the Iliad most likely was based on individuals and/or small groups of men throwing javelins at each other, and occasionally engaging in melee, the phalanx was most likely where most men gathered at some distance to the enemy. Its only natural for soldiers to gather close to feel safe. It has been seen and photographed when tribes went to battle in New Guinea.

One difference between the times of the Iliad and the later use of phalanx would be that units tried to stay and fight in the phalanx group. But no new word came in to use for that formation.


CBR

[Spartan198]

...but my copy of the Illiad was sadly destroyed by a vindictive family member upon the realization that the movie wasn't 100% faithful to said work of art.

Wait, I rephrase my statement:
...but my copy of the Iliad was sadly destroyed by a vindictive family member upon realization that said work of art wasn't 100% faithful to the movie.