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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.
The sarissa was over 6 m (20 ft) in length, with a counterweight and spiked end at the rear called a sauroter; it seems to have had an iron sleeve in the middle which may mean that it was in two pieces for the march with the sleeve joining the two sections before use. Like the xyston, the sarissa was greatly tapered towards the point.
Men in rows behind the initial five angled their spears at a 45-degree angle in an attempt to ward off arrows or other projectiles. [5] The secondary weapon was a shortsword called a xiphos . [ 1 ] The phalangites also had a smaller and flatter shield than that of the Greek aspis , measuring about 24 inches and weighing about 12 pounds. [ 4 ]
The Macedonian sarissa, spear and related armor en AJA 81, 1977. Markle III, M.M., Use of the sarissa by Philip and Alexander of Macedon en AJA 82, 1978. Markle III, M.M., Macedonian arms and tactics under Alexander the Great en B. Barr-Sharrar (ed.), Macedonia and Greece in late classical and early Hellenistic times, Washington, 1982. Marsden ...
A modern recreation of a mid-17th century company of pikemen. By that period, pikemen would primarily defend their unit's musketeers from enemy cavalry.. A pike is a long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages [1] and most of the early modern period, and wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bayonet ...
This is a list of types of spears found worldwide throughout history. Used equally in melee and thrown ... Sarissa; Spetum; Spontoon; Trident; Glaive; Elsewhere.
The primary weapon of the phalangite was the sarissa, a massive spear that ranged from 16 feet (mid-late 4th century BC) to as much as 22 feet (near the nadir of the phalanx's development). First made famous by Philip of Macedon , it allowed Macedonian infantry to "outrange" the opposition's existing spear formations by several feet.
Sumerian phalanx-like formation c. 2400 BC, from detail of the victory stele of King Eannatum of Lagash over Umma, called the Stele of the Vultures. The phalanx (pl.: phalanxes or phalanges) [1] was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together.