Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

TACTICAL DISPOSITIONS. 33psilol had no defensive armor, and carried only bows andslings. Recruited from the poorer classes, they were of farless value in action than the hoplites, but some psiloi, like theCretan bowmen, were celebrated for their accurate aim andthe penetration of their arrows.Chariots fell into disuse after the Trojan war. They werefound to be unavailable among the rugged hills and vales ofGreece. But cavalry began to take their place, at just whatperiod is uncertain.Xenophon mentions cavalry in the timeof Lycurgus. It was undoubtedly employed in the Messenianwar, a century later. As an arm it was not good, exceptingpossibly the Boeotian horse, and especially that from Thessaly,on whose broad meadows had been bred an excellentrace ofstout, serviceable cobs.The tactical disposition of troops was very various, butgenerally in earliest times was based on a decimal system likethat of the East. The light troops covered the front andflanks of the army ;and the hoplites were formed in a densebody, uniformly called a phalanx, which, however, at thattime had no absolute rule of formation or numbers. Xenophonstates that the unit of the then phalanx was a taxis(or lochos or century) of one hundred men, commanded by acaptain, and ranged In four files twenty-four men deep, plusfour officers, each file having four sections of six men each.Ten taxes made a chiHarchia, under a chiliarch, and fourchiliarchias a phalanx. The names of the units of servicewere very various. Attacks were made in parallel order,but it was infrequently sought to lean the flanks and rear onobstacles which might prevent their being turned. Campswere pitched where they were secure from the nature of theirlocation, and were rarely much fortified.The soldier carriedno great burden, and the Greek armies were very nimble.The right flank was the post of honor.Marches were ahnost