Now I know culture corner was supposed to die last year, but I just couldn’t let it. I loved the column and I will continue it with Jesus’s [Hills] permission.
The word of the week is: Mountebank
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary a mountebank is a boastful or unscrupulous pretender. In addition to being a charlatan one could mountebank a person by beguiling them through trickery. Mountebank comes from the Italian montimbanco, meaning to stand on a bench which in turn comes from the original meaning of one who sells quack medicines.”Companies that sell headache drugs that have side effects “including headaches” have mountebanked me for the final time!”
The subject of the week is: the Phalanx
A phalanx, as defined by Western Civilization edition 6 by Jackson J. Spielvogel, is a military formation used by the ancient Greeks which involves spear and shield armed heavy infantry, called hoplites interlocking shields and forming into a rectangle 8 ranks deep. This formation was usually invulnerable to attack from the front when held by disciplined men, but was quite vulnerable from the back or the flanks.The phalanx enjoyed mass popularity in two main time periods in history. In the time of the Peloponnesian wars, with the Greeks against the Persians the phalanx was the whole army, few supporting forces were used. The most famous battle featuring a phalanx during this war was recently the subject of the movie “300”, the battle of Thermopylae. In that battle 9,000 Greeks including 300 Spartans held off the gigantic Persian army for 2 days. At the battle the phalanx was unbeatable from the front, and the Persians only defeated them when they placed their archers along a goat path which flanked the Greek positions.The second period came about when the phalanx alone was proved to be vulnerable. Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, managed to subdue the city-states of Greece by changing the phalanx. Philip gave his phalangites the sarissa long pike, and decreased the size of shields for his phalangites, allowing them two hands to use their pikes. His new phalanx then engaged the Greek phalanxes. While the older hoplite phalanxes were engaged Philip would attack from the back with his heavy Companion Cavalry, and rout the Greeks. This is almost what happened at the Battle of Chaeronea minus one small detail. Instead of the Companion Cavalry charging the flanks, they charged the front of the enemy phalanx! Led by Alexander the Companions leaped over the first rank of spears and killed the Theban king. After this battle Philip united the Greek city-states and passed on his kingdom to his son, Alexander, who proceeded to conquer the known, to the Greeks, world. The phalanx stayed in use by the Greek Successor kingdoms, with the only modifications being in lengthening the spears (up to 18m!) until the Successors were conquered by the Romans.