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...
Paul,
ReplyDeleteAt 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