Hello, you're listening to The Hellenistic Age podcast.

Before I begin this episode proper, I'd like to read a passage by the Roman historian Ari.

Quote, Alexander then drew up his troops until the phalanx was 120 ranks deep.

He ordered the hoplites to hold their spears upright, then turned their

mass spears now to the right, now to the left. He marched the phalanx briskly forwards,

leading it in a zigzag manner, first towards one wing, then towards the other. After thus drawing up

several formations and rearranging them at brief intervals, the enemy troops had long

marvelled as they watched the crisp, orderly movements of the men being drilled, and when the attack

came, the Talanchians hastened back to the city. This passage, above all else, demonstrates the supreme

discipline and professionalism of the Macedonian army under the

reigns of Alexander and Philip. This is the army that will conquer much of the world under Alexander,

and will form the bedrock of the Hellenistic armies for the next 150 years until the arrival of the

Roman legions. This is the famed Macedonian phalanx. But what exactly is a Macedonian phalanx?

What makes it different from a regular non-Macedonian phalanx?

What's a phalanx in general?

To clarify, I need to give a bit of background information.

Falanks was a system of fighting, developing likely in the 6th century BC, which involved warrior citizens of the cities, known as hoplites,

armed with large circular shields and spear to form up in rank and effectively create a wall of bristling spines, each interlocking with a man next to them.

By engaging in this closed rank, the army served as one solid unit.

Now, the notion of a shield wall with spears was not strictly a Greek practice,

being attested to an Egyptian and near-eastern depictions of combat, but the Greeks managed to specialize in it.

The Spartans famously were supremely adept at the phalanx, being unique for their incredible

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