Quote Originally Posted by Maion Maroneios View Post
It didn't get inflexible and the Makedonian Syntagma didn't change. Were did you hear/read something like that? Please get your facts right dude. The only thing that probably happened, is that the pikes were further lengthened about a meter. The formation remained the same: 256 (16x16) man blocks typically, with 5 rows in front having their pikes lowered parallel to the ground and the rest in an angle that rose the further back you went.

The only thing that changed, is that more and more pikemen were used and less and less cavalry. Alexandros used approsimately 9,000 Pezhetairoi IIRC, while later Basileis like Perseus fielded from 16,000 to even 22,000 I believe.

Maion
A mate told me this things but probably i understood something false, im not the best in english. Moreover i already said that im not sure about the formation thing, probably it was linked with the aspect that the successors raised more Pezhetairoi than Alexander once.

But one thing i can say for sure and this that in the 2nd century bc the Hellenistic Kingdoms forgot the tactics pioneered by Philip II and Alexander and neglected to effectively use cavalry to cover the flanks of the syntagma, allowing the Roman allied cavalry to flank the Pezhetairoi lines and attack from the rear, where they were extremely vulnerable. The development of the Roman maniple formation also allowed the Romans to effectively outmaneuver the Macedonian syntagma and bring the legionnaires in close enough to utilize their deadly swordsmanship. The defeat of the last of the Hellenistic Kingdoms spelled the end of not only the remnants of Philip and Alexander's empire, but also the end of the Pezhetairoi.

Moreover the sucessors armored the Pezhetairoi more than alexanders one to counter the legions of rome. This made the Pezhetairo more inflexible because of the weigth of the armor. I think even in Eb is there such a unit. But im not quite sure about this last aspect, only heard/read it one time, maybe i understood it also false. :/