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Macedonian phalanx. 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 weight of the sarissa is unknown, as no surviving examples have been found, but modern reconstructions have shown that a 5.8 m pike could weigh no more than 4.05 kg (9 lb). [4] At close range such large weapons were of little use, but an intact phalanx could easily keep its enemies at a distance.
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 cavalry xyston was 12.5 feet (3.8 m) by comparison.) The great length of the pike was balanced by a counterweight at ...
On his Asian campaign, Alexander, had a phalanx of 6 veteran taxeis, numbering 9,000 men. Between Susa and India a seventh taxis was created. Antipater, as regent in Macedonia, was left with 8 taxeis of younger, less-experienced recruits. [43] Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, which was a type of pike. The length of these ...
They were armed in the Macedonian manner with a sarissa and fought in the phalanx formation, much like the other Hellenistic armies of the time. The Argyraspides were probably a corps of about 10,000 men [ 9 ] who were picked from the entire kingdom to serve in this unit. [ 10 ]
Miller pointed out that Spartan allows infantry to use the sarissa earlier than this. Miller suggested several rule changes to make Spartan more historically accurate in this respect, and concluded, "When implemented, these aforementioned rules changes will lessen the role of the phalanx to a certain extent, but it maintains an important ...
[4] [6] [7] Tactically, the pezhetairoi were best used as a strong defensive line, rather than as shock troops. The length of the sarissa, while making them terrifying for an enemy to oppose, severely limited their maneuverability; and if they were taken in flank or rear they had little chance of responding.
Articles relating to the phalanx, a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms. The term is particularly used to describe the use of this formation in Ancient Greek warfare , although the ancient Greek writers used it to also describe any massed ...