Quote Originally Posted by Watchman View Post
Meaning the men in the phalanx were closely enuough packed the dead had no room to fall down. Which isn't quite the same as them having died of the crush itself you know.

More to the point, the crush would be at its most intense at the very front of the file, where the de facto "NCO" of the bunch - the file-leader - was; or picked elite "spearhead" troops such as the Theban Sacred Band. This would duly result in rather disproportionate number of casualties due to the supposed excessive pressure among such highly valuable fighting men...
Does Not Compute.
Nevermind now that these guys also *did* have enough room to employ first spears and then swords actively.
I said it as two not tied examples, there are records of men dying from lack of breathe.

But the very shape of an Aspis makes it possible for such a formation, as you'll notice the chest has enough place to continue breathing! Most probably casualties of the push were those with either lower training but I think its more likely to be because of weaker armour. I mean I'd rather be in bronze in an sandwhich then in linnen right?

When using overhand you can form a very dense formation, when the spear became useless you could draw your sword to continue fighting (the form of the Aspis also makes this possible, though it'll be harder to do with longer swords.