Bret Devereaux

Dory (spear) grips are debated, but I personally believe hoplites did whatever worked based on the totality of the circumstances. This means you’d see a wide variety of grips.https://twitter.com/CraigHlady/status/1232693273229053952 …

Agreed! Switching grips with a spear is not all that hard, so there is no reason to suppose a hoplite would feel 'locked in' to just one grip.

Phew. People get really passionate about this (also othismos models)

I am a 'soft' othismos thinker: charge, collide, maybe some pushing. I'd think the formation would accordion naturally - a press at the impact of the charge, followed by men naturally spacing out. But I don't think anyone can be sure enough about anything to be angry about it.

Ditching the othismos entirely seems to me to run afoul of the evidence. The word means what it means. Tyrtaeus' description is really quite clear.

He specifically says “shield against shield” and “foot beside foot.”

Yeah! The text is very clear! καὶ πόδα πὰρ ποδὶ θεὶς καὶ ἐπ᾽ἀσπίδοσἀσπίδ᾽ἐρείσας, ἐν δὲ λόφον τε λόφῳ καὶ κυνέην κυνέῃ καὶ στέρνον στέρνῳ πεπλημένος ἀνδρὶ μαχέσθω.