Spartan Battle Tactics

The diagrams below show how Spartan marching columns were deployed to face an enemy approaching from the front or rear.

In the first example, a Spartan marching column is deployed into a phalanx when facing an enemy in front. The commander of each Enomotia (labeled as “1” in the first unit) would deploy his unit into the first phalanx position then the units behind him would fill the first row. Other units would fill the rows behind it.In the second example, the enemy is located behind the marching column so the commanders ordered a countermarch causing each unit to reverse position but keeping the same order. The unit commander would now be on the left of his unit rather than the right. As the marching column is counter-positioned, it could move into the phalanx formation.