I am with Maion on this one, back claims with sources or stuff it. Anyone can make a claim about anything. That does not necessarily make the claim true.

Archippos, what in "The Phalanx then lost order (cohesion) and was doomed" is in essence different from your Wiki copies?

Basically the short of the long of it is that on level ground from the front, Phalanx is very hard to beat, perhaps Pilae can even the odds. On rough ground, flanked or if otherwise forced to give up cohesion, phalangites are F-ed as the legionaires would be more effective with their Gladius Hispanensis than the phalangites with their puny sword once the legionaire gets past the spearpoints.

What, BTW makes you think Phalanx300 (does the name not hint a certain fascination and bias?) that Hoplite warfare would include facing the enemy 10 cm from you? Nothing in my studies as well as those 16 years of fighting has given me that impression. Especially if you wield a long spear you do not want to be 10 cm from your enemy. 10 cm... that is actually embracing your enemy- utter idiocy if you want to survive a battle.

And I also like to point out that in even the best phalanx there can only be spearpoints protruding in the gaps between ranks and in close order and with long spears the possibility for what we vikings call "Crossstrikes" is low, you are basically stuck. In theory there is a small gap in front of every person to exploit for a guy with a sword and a shield. I dunno how it would work in practise though, despite my 16 years of experience with re-enactment fighting, for we do not fight phalanx or hoplite style. But I can say that if you are to penetrate an enemy line thus in our game you have to coordinate it with your friends next to you and get it just right- if you fail a little, the enemy gets you. But it can be done.

I dunno with Hoplitai, would be interesting to try in fact.