>>51589882This is one of those times where I think pop culture depictions of the phalanx are pretty silly. When it comes to pop culture depictions the Greek phalanx, and it has to be said using the term phalanx to describe Greek and Makedonian formations is a modern thing since the Ancient Greeks had no trouble describing Assyrians, Persians, Karians, etc standing in a phalanx as long as they were armed as heavy infantry, there is the idea of a rigid, heavily organized formation of shield walls. But the average phalanx as described by Thukydides and Xenophon paint a different picture, we're talking about a poorly organized formation of men who went running and screaming into battle, who couldn't maintain their formation on the move and could really only deploy in one. As Dr. Konijnendik put it, the only thing setting apart a Greek phalanx from a heavily armed mob is their initial deployment in a formation. If you ever seen Alexander from 2004, the Persian charge during the battle of gaugamela is more accurate to the Greeks than it is to the Persians, which at this point are described as marching into battle in step and quietly, by contrast to the organized and heavily armed Greek and Makedonian infantry in the movie. It's one of those tropes where western forces are organized and armored while oriental forces fight as a lightly armored mob, complete nonsense.
When it comes to falinks they're most likely heavily influenced by the pop culture image of spara, in particular the 300 Spartans, which in reality differ greatly from their pop culture depiction. Suffice to say Herodotos describes their fighting methods at the hot gates closer to the loose fighting in 300 than your image.
