Xenophon, though constantly using the word phalanx in speaking of the whole body of troops which he commanded in the retreat from Cunaxa, when he (has occasion to mention the formation or employ ment of a small body of men for any particular purpose, gives it the name of A.ixes, and such body appears to have consisted either of 50 or 100 men. On one occasion, some lochi being detached from the army, two of them, amounting to 100 men, are said to have been cut off (' Anabasis,' lib. i.); and at another time, from au apprehension that the order of the phalanx would he broken in ascending a mountain, the army was divided into separate lochi of 100 men each. Ib.,' lib. iv.) But iu the' Cyrop.-edia' (lib. ii.) a division of 100 men is called ecitts, and this is stated to have been subdivided into sections of ten and of five men each. The scale just hinted at was probably peculiar to the Athenian army, for Xenophon describes the Spartau troops as formed into six 1.16pat, each commanded by a polemarch; lie adds also that the more was divided into four aJeos, eight werronoarbs, and sixteen ?vo:turrlat, iu which the number of inen appears to have varied, and to have consisted of from 25 to 36 men. Do Repub.,' lib. xi.) The more is said to have consisted of GOO men, hut its strength appears to have varied considerably at different:times. These were the divisions of the Spartan phalanx.
The only calking works expressly written on the subject of the Creek tactics are those of Allan and his abbreviator Arrian, and these authors lived in the time of Hadrian and Antoninus, that is, long after the ago in which the phalanx was superseded by the legion. There fore, since their descnptiona do not agree with what we find concerning the phalanx in the works of Thucydides and Xenophon, it seems reason able to conclude that they appertain to the state of this body of troops in and subsequent to the times of Philip and Alexander. fElian makes the Macedonian phalanx to consist of 16,384 men of the class called a/1Am, or heavy-armed infantry ; but this must be understood to be the whole body of that denomination in an army, and to bo com posed of four simple phalanges. Joined to the phalanx is a division (iefeayea), consisting of half that number of men of the class called or light armed troops, and another, called also an epitagnia, of cavalry ((arum), consisting of onc-fourth of the number.
The peitastce (ireavaaral), who are also mentioned by 2Elian, but not as appertaining to the phalanx, united in some measure the firmness of the heavy with the agility of the light armed men. They were first instituted by the Athenian commander Iphicratea, and in the course of time they became very numerous in the Greek armies: they served as the guards of the princes, and were often reckoned among the heavy armed troops.
The simple phalanx. according to -.Ellen, consisted of 4096 men; one
half of that number, or 2048 men, constituted the merarchy (i,ivaapXta); and one-fourth, or 1024 men, was called a chiliarchy (x/Agapxta). One fourth of the last constituted a syntagma (ailyrcryaci), or xenagy asm-yia), which was a complete square of 16 men each way; and the lowest subdivision was called lochus (alixos), decuria (5eNas), or enomoty (h.wzorial, which is, by that writer, considered as a single file of 16 men. The officers do not appear to be included in the numbers of the different divisions: each xenagy had its own chief or captain (ourra-marapxns) at the head, and a lieutenant (obpa-yos) brought up the rear. The leader of a single file is called by tElian a decurion, perhaps because originally the file consisted of 10 men. A phalangiirch commanded each phalanx.
.tElian divides the epitagma of light troops into sections, each of which has half the strength of the corresponding division in the phalanx ; the lowest division is the lochus or file, which consists of 8 men. The epitagma of cavalry is divided in the same proportions as the bodies of infantry, down to the lowest subdivision, which is called tan, and is made to consist of 64 men.
The phalangists were armed with helmet, cuirasses, and greaves ; and in the early ages they carried an oval buckler and a pike, the latter about 10 feet long. The change introduced by Philip in the arms of the hoplita3 consisted in the substitution of a larger shield, and of the adpicroa, a pike from 18 to 20 feet long. The arms of the peltasta3 seem to have differed from those of the hoplitit chiefly in the buckler (from whence their designation is derived) being round and only about two feet three inches in diameter, and in the pike being short. It is said that Iphicrates, instead of a metal cuirass, allowed to this class of troops only a corslet of strong linen ; but apparently this regulation was not always followed. The light-armed troops were frequently provided with a helmet only, and their arms were small javelins, bows, or slings.
A phalanx, in line, was considered as being constituted of two equal parts or wings (sipara); there was no central division, but the place of juuction of the two wings was called the dpapaAbs. In the usual order of battle it was drawn up with its front parallel to that of the enemy, but it not unfrequently happened that one wing was kept retired. This last method was practised by Epaminondas at the battle of Leuctra ; the wing engaged was strengthened so as to have 50 men in depth, and the line gradually diminished to the opposite extremity, where it was only six men 'deep. Sometimes also two phalanges ad vanced in columns, with their heads united, the two lines gradually diverging to the right and left; and this is that disposition which was called (AaCoAov, or the wedge.