"Against phalanxes, there are some weird things like almost certain pila
disruption... something that never really occurred at Pydna or the
classic battles... but is part of the Connelly diagram myth"
Ok, I'll ask. What's the Connelly diagram myth?
------> In one of the Connelly books there is section that shows how a
phalangite is disrupted by Roman missiles-- aka pila. This diagram has
led to a bazillion rules sets and interpretations that somehow pila was
the bane of phalanxes. Sources often promote that the opposite is true,
that the missile effect on the front of a Macedonian phalanx was
negligible, such as Livy's account of the siege or Atrax, where he says
a phalanx that held a breach was unaffected by missiles, and the Romans
were unable to penetrate it in hand to hand at all. One of the reasons
why the pilum may have had less effect was the back ranks waving the
pikes to knock them down, and the fact that the phalanx did not often
charge at the run, but advanced steadily planting their pikes in the
shields of the Romans and pushing. I think there is one reference in
Appian that a phalanx is disordered by pila.... I cannot think of the
direct reference, and may be part of battle where the phalanx is also
being flanked and shot at in the rear by ballistas, and the troops may
not have been very experience.
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