I recently completed an article for "Ancient Warfare" on the hoplite shield and its application in my counter-reformative model of Othismos. Since it was only 2500 words, I have much I could not fit into the article. In the next few weeks I am going to disect Goldsworthy's 1997 paper and show why his model of othismos is in error. Just to be even I will also demonstrate that while correct in the general concept, Hanson et al. are mistaken in many of the details of how hoplites clashed.
Stay tuned...
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Paul,
At the risk of sounding very "low-brow" I would appreciate more description on what you think the hoplite battle really looked like. I agree with your critique of Goldsworthy, but where does that leave us? You mention a published article. Could you summarize it here? Another aspect of Ancient Greek warfare which has puzzled me - perhaps only because I have not read enough - is what role cavalry played? Did it fill a purely reconnaisance role? Hussars of the Ancients? Or did the Greeks use cavalry the way the Germans did in WWII - for rapid mobility but not for engagement? Did hoplites ever clash with cavalry? And if so what did such engagements look like? What might they have looked like? I look forward to your response.
Helena
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