PHALANX, the ancient Greek formation for heavy infantry, which won for itself a reputation of invincibility, may be described as a line of parallel columns, rendered by its depth and solidity capable of penetrating any line of troops. The oldest. phalanx was the Lacedaemonian or Spartan, in which the soldiers stood eight deep: the Athenian phalanx had,been the same, until, at the battle of Marathon Miltiades reduced the depth to four men in order to increase hit front. When Bpaminondas organized the Theban army against Sparta. he felt that the Spartan line of battle would be impregua• ble to troops organized in their own manner. 'He therefore increased the depth and lessened the front of his phalanx. which enabled him to burst through the Spartan line, inflicting the sanguinary defeat of Leuctra (371 n.c.). Philip of Macedon had learned the art of war under•Epaminondas. and when he resolved to make his state a military power, lie formed the celebrated Macedonian phalanx (359 tic.), which enabled him to conquer Greece, and with which his son Alexander subdued the eastern world. The Macedonian phalanx, as the latest form that organization assumed, and as the shape in which the phalanx encountered the military skill of the west, is deserving of description. The line was 16 deep; a grand-phalanx comprising 16,384 hoplites, or heavy-armed sol diers, subdivided as follows: the grand-phalanx was composed of four phalanxes or divisions, each under a general officer, called a phatangareh; his command was divided into two brigades or merarehies (sometimes called telarchies), each of these comprising two regiments, or elegiarchies. of four battalions or syntagniata each. A syntagma
answered accurately to a modern battalion, except that it was smaller. It was a perfect square, with 16 men each way, was commanded by a syntagmatarch or zenagos; and had an adjutant, with one or two other staff officers who stood behind. Eight files united were under a taziareh, four under a tetrarch, corresponding probably to a modern rapt., two files were under a dilochite or subaltern. A single file of 16 men was called a lochos, and the best man was placed at its head; a picked man, the ouragos, also marching in the rear. The arms of all these phalaux-men were pikes or spears, 24 ft. long, of which 6 ft.,were behind and 18 ft. held in front of the combatant. As each man occupied with his shield 3 ft., the phalanx, when it advanced, had six tiers of spear-points in front, a wall of steel which no troops could withstand, especially as the bearers of the spears were pressed on by the ten ranks in their rear. By rapid movements the phalanx could change front, form in close column of syntaomata, and execute other critical maneuvers. —The heavy-armed phalanx was ordinarilytlanked by pellastes or light infantry, simi larly formed, but only eight deep, while the cavalry were but four deep. The phalanx. as representative of the heavy formation, came in contact with the lighter legion of Rome during the wars of Pyrrhus in Italy.—At the great battle of Heraclea (2711 n.c.), the phalanx won the day; but the victory was attributable to other causes as much as to any superiority of formation.