Paul Bardunias | Session 6 of the Battle of Plataea Conference

The Clash of Shield-Walls at Plataia

Paul Bardunias (Florida Atlantic University)

Our understanding of ancient Greek warfare has been hampered by irreconcilable visions of the mechanics of hoplite combat. I have made use of a combination of experimental archaeology, the physics of weapons use and movement in crowds, and the biology of group behaviors in humans, to present an evolution of hoplite warfare from the Archaic to the Classical period. This view attempts to satisfy as much as possible the disparate opinions of modern scholars on elements of combat such as the level of training and drill required, the spacing of men in battle, and the concerted push of othismos. My reading of Tyrtaios suggests that the Archaic Greeks fought in shield-walls, where hoplites opened battle by throwing spears, backed by a mass of missile troops akin to those seen in а late Roman shield-wall as well as in Saxon and Norse formations. The missile component of this blended formation failed to meet the challenge of the Achaemenid barricades of large shields backed by numerous and powerful archers. As a result of the experience of the Persian wars, hoplites changed their tactics, foregoing missile combat for a charge from long range and severing the mass of light troops from their formations. At the battle of Plataia, we see not only the clash of Greek and Achaemenid shield-walls, but the bloody birth of the classical phalanx.
Paul Bardunias applies principles of entomological swarm behavior and self-organization to analyze the coordination and tactics of hoplite warfare.