An introduction to the Macedonian phalanx 

Syntagma produces some of the best content on this platform.

Glad to see you return. Your content is always top quality

Hearing you say Syntagma is like hearing a character in a movie name drop the movie; it’s so funny for some reason.

why did you stop

It is a joy to see you post! Thank you for these excellent videos! 😃👍

You do a really good job of illustrating just how large the sarissa spears were. A weapon of that size took a lot of practice to use. But perhaps more interestingly the more experienced and elite soldiers used shorter spears. And many have argued that the ability of being able to be in the 5th row back - and still inflict casualties on an enemy you never have to look in the eye - was a big and important factor in the success of the phalanx.

This is my favorite history channel. Wish he posted more.

Welcome back! Thoroughly enjoy your videos

I can’t tell you how excited I was to see that you had returned with a new video! The content, information, visuals, video quality, & narration are all of the highest quality. Your videos truly are the gold standard on Youtbe. I enjoyed this one immensely and cannot wait for the next one

This channel deserves so many more subscribers.

The graphics are really incredible. Such a vivid picture of the ancient world.

Currently taking a upper division course on Alexander and the Hellenistic Kingdoms and I'm constantly watching videos on youtube to give visuals to the texts I'm reading. Of everything I've watched in the last 4 months this is without a doubt the highest quality and most accurate video out there. Absolutely adore the city going on in the background and the attention to detail.

I was very happy this came up in my feed. Welcome back. I'm fascinated by the phalanx formation and am glad there's another analysis of their use and tactics.

Easily the best and most interesting in depth look at the Macedonian phalanx I've seen yet. Excellent work! Thank you for sharing!

Top quality video from a fantastic channel, and looking forward to more. Keep it up!

This is the best museum I have ever watched.

Loved this video. I'm actually studying greek history and since I love military history i wanted to know more about macedonian phalanx. Very good explanation and analysis, i hope you'll consider also che cavalry in a next video

Just finished watching this video and I just have to thank you so much this video work and 3d models informative voice that explains everything clearly without pauses and touching on one of my favorite bits of ancient military history is just incredible mark my words this channel is going to the top cant wait !! Keep up the great work man !!

A tutorial video on pronouncing ancient greek and Latin names would be an absolute gem!

Ugh, you make just the best videos. Again, great work

great video, you're FINALLY back!

Wow, that was amazing! Love to see your content again.

AMAZING! This deserves millions of viewers, likes and subscribers!

Being a historian myself and loving Macedon, I think this video was 1. Very well done and two. I ended up learning a thing or two from this and I will never look at a Macedonian phalanx the same way

Really really enjoyed this video and the presentation that went with it. Very nice to have a representation to go with what you were talking about. Subscribed

missed this channel, superb stuff

So Glad to see your back

Welcome BACK!!! I love these videos

Marvelous exposition of the men their arms and their formations and how it all worked

thank you for your come back

Always happy to see you post a video ^^

Pretty please keep making stuff like this it's really cool especially showing the formation and stuff

Absolutely outstanding presentation and animations that perfectly and accurately showcase the subject matter. You're one of the best channels out there. I know the animations take a long time but they allow a level of immersion most other channels fail to achieve, especially when going over battles and formations like these.

brilliant! sublime! so glad of the quality of such an interesting topic!! keep it up

Wow this channel deserves more attention.

Dude your videos are awesome please make more!!!

Excellent presentation, glad to find this channel 👌

Really good video! Never thought this would be so interesting. Well done sir.

More than a deserved subscribe! Looking forward for new content, keep it up Syntagma you'r the best!

Such an excellent presentation. Thank you.

Glad you are back in action. KnG was giving me headaches man!!

top quality content you made here, keep it up and thanks

Great work, the animations help a lot to visualize what it was a macedonian army.

Great to see you back Syntagma! An excellent video as per usual. Something like a video on the naval battle at Salamis in real scale I think would make an amazing video. Meaning to see all the, close to a thousand, ships from the advantage point of the Persian king.

Amazing how little difference there is between phalanxes and pike blocks of the late medieval/early modern era, despite the time that passed. Soldiers of each era would have found the other's drill manual very familiar.

Impressive video! well done, thanks for making it.

Much anticipated

I Love this video like All off your Videos. Allready followed your Reference to Asklepiodotuses taktica :)

Really fascinating and interesting video. Thank you.

Loving these visuals

Top notch as always!

Just found this channel. Excellent quality and top research.

Excellent video Appreciated the fact that you did a lot of research and experimented the faisability of various pike length. Well done to you!

love the videos. would love to see one on the hoplite phalanx

a fantastic video, well done Syntagma!

Glad I found this channel

Masterful content and excellent 3D renderings. Very historically accurate. Subscribed!

Excellent quality.

hell yeah new material ! high quality content

1:17 gorgeous city! Please do more and more often videos ❤

Awesome!

That was really cool!

wow, seriously amazing job. Cheers from Estonia

By far, the best explanation of the Macedonian phalanx I have ever come across. The video is worthy of scholarly publication. Phillip and Alexander would be proud!

Thanks for sharing , good work. 👍

Syntagma we miss you! No better creator for ancient history! Come back when you can :)

I realy wish you made these more often, and do a series on Scipio Africanus, Hanibal Barca or some otger great general the way you did about G.J. Cesar. You make fantastic content, its a joy to watch.

wow. hat was a good video. Hope you will make many more in the future

Great work guys 👍👍

I knew stayin subbed to this channel would pay off

Beautiful video!

Absolutely outstanding

4:52 I have doubts regarding the Leukaspides or White Shields being a phalanx unit simply due to the fact that Polybius (the more reliable source) doesn't mention these troops in the Battle of Sellasia rather puts foreign troops in their place like Illyrians. Plutarch doesn't mention them in the battle of Pydna which is incredibly weird since he says they were present in the battle of Sellasia unlike Polybius. Though like Polybius, in the battle of Pydna he mentions Thracians in place of the Leukaspides with "white and gleaming armour of their shields". The Royal Guard Infantry of the Argeads and the Antigonids is also a phalanx unit. The 5000-strong Peltast Guard is one example (they were also called Shield-Guards or Shieldbearers in Arrian's Alexander Anabasis, due to the fact that Pelte shield they were using is bigger: 70 to 75 cm [4:13]). However unlike the rest of the phalanx, they were considered lighter and more mobile in such that their deployment in battle is on the flanks. 6:35 Javelins were also a part of the phalanx arsenal. In Arrian's Alexander Anabasis, the phalanx regiments of Alexander during the Battle of the Hydaspes were also armed with javelins: "but now the phalanx itself of the Macedonians was advancing against the elephants, the men casting darts at the riders and also striking the beasts themselves, standing round them on all sides." ~ Arrian's Anabasis of Alexander, chapter 17, the Defeat of Porus. In Rufus Curtius' the History of Alexander, he mentions the arms of Macedonian Coragus in his duel with the Athenian Dioxippus as follows: "The Macedonian was had equipped himself with regular weapons: he held a bronze shield and a spear called a sarissa, in his left hand and a javelin in his right while he also had a sword at his side - as if he were going to fight a number of men simultaneously" Now is the used of both weapons possible? Sure however that depends on the kind of sarissa used. Like you mention before the sarissa varied in length; with the 4 metre version (roughly 12 to 13 feet) being the possible candidate of such use. 11:17 As for the Synaspismos or locked-shields, I think the formation wasn't purely defensive in nature. Plutarch says the when the phalanx-lines advanced during the Battle of Pydna, their shields were locked in combat suggesting that the formation as whole is just as offensive as it is defensive. Now is the possibility of such formation debatable? I don't think so. There was this article I saw last year that the formation can be done if the sarissas were raised in a "high-guard" position above the pelte, similarly to the way pikes are used in the 16th century. And as such, it creates a wall of pikes and shields. Link for more information: www.academia.edu/44440024/Synaspismos_and_Its_Possibility_in_the_Macedonian_Styled_Phalanx

Great job, thanks for the video

Wow this was an excellent video 👍

Wow, this is amazing

Pretty nice video; it would be fantastic if you also do an introduction to Persian-style equipment to compare the two different fighting styles.

This video is fantastic!

I'm so glad this video got to my recommendations

Amazing video, congratulations!

By far,the very best historical piece about Falanx,and much more.SIMPLY WONDERFUL.

I love this channel so much. Now I can look at a helmet and be lkke" yo that's not a Corinthian that's a Thracian!"

This is a top notch quality video! Very well done and whit the animations as well! Keep this up! Also music: I love it! Can we have it whitout the narrative and voice over? :)

8:41 The Syntagma was considered the best RU-vidr of the 21st century

Top quality history channel. They dont even show this stuff on cable TV anymore

Awesome graphics!

The most underrated channel

Huh, thought you guys were dead. Glad you're posting again.

holy cow this is amazing i just found a new gem!

Great story - the graphics really grab me!

FINALLY! A new video after 6 months, HALF A FUCKING YEAR, we all thought this channel was already dead.

criminally underrated channel

Enjoyed this thank you.

Great video!

E' un vero piacere vedere un vostro video. L'attesa viene sempre ripagata

Very interesting stuff. Thanks 😉

Awsome presentation

I absolutely love this. 😍😍😍

Amazing stuff 👍 It’s great to see someone create content of such high quality for free. Kudos to you sir

I've often wondered how unwieldly the 'half pikes' were i.e. the front halves of the Sarissa not connected to their sockets. They wouldn't have a proper weighted backend and they'd still be a lot longer and thicker/heavier than conventional spears but have thought about whether they were ever used to convert the phalagnites into 'less-than-ideal' ad hoc hoplites (bearing in mind their shields are a lot smaller too) because there would have been circumstances such as garrisoning, foot patrols, sieges and less-than-regular circumstances where the phalagnites would have to make do in other roles when required.