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The sarissa or sarisa [note 1] was a long spear or pike about 5 to 7 meters (16 to 23 ft) in length. It was introduced by Philip II of Macedon and was used in his Macedonian phalanxes as a replacement for the earlier dory , which was considerably shorter.
On the battlefield, where they operated as shock-capable cavalry, the sarissophoroi wielded a weapon given the same name as the infantryman's (pezhetairos) pike, the sarissa; this was possibly in reality merely a longer version of the cavalry lance, the xyston. However, when operating ahead of the army on scouting and screening duties they ...
The Macedonian phalanx (Greek: Μακεδονική φάλαγξ) was an infantry formation developed by Philip II from the classical Greek phalanx, of which the main innovation was the use of the sarissa, a 6-metre pike.
This, along with the sauroter, helped to make the point of balance as far towards the butt of the weapon as possible. It should be stressed that the archaeological discoveries show that the phalangites also used the two-edged sword as well as the traditional Greek hoplite spear (doru/δόρυ), which was much shorter than the sarissa. The ...
The "phalangites" were armed with a much longer spear, the sarissa, and less heavily armoured. The sarissa was the pike used by the ancient Macedonian army. Its actual length is unknown, but apparently it was twice as long as the dory. This makes it at least 14 feet (4.3 m), but 18 feet (5.5 m) appears more likely.
The xyston (Ancient Greek: ξυστόν "spear, javelin; pointed or spiked stick, goad), was a type of a long thrusting spear in ancient Greece.It measured about 3.5 to 4.25 m (11 to 14 ft) long and was probably held by the cavalryman with both hands, although the depiction of Alexander the Great's xyston on the Alexander Mosaic in Pompeii (see figure), suggests that it could also be used ...
The word hoplite (Greek ὁπλίτης, hoplitēs) derives from hoplon (ὅπλον, plural hopla, ὅπλα) meaning the arms carried by a hoplite [1] Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of the Ancient Greek City-states (except Spartans who were professional soldiers). They were primarily armed as spear-men and fought in a phalanx (see below).
Hellenistic cavalry is much more diverse than the Greek cavalry of earlier eras. Greek tactical manuals categorize them as cataphracts (fully armored, a type of cavalry not to be confused with the Seleucid, Parthian or Byzantine cataphracts) and aphracts (unarmored). Cataphracts was a term commonly employed to describe fully armored cavalry of ...