The “Hollywood” view of Roman battles shows a charge into contact and then a series of one on one sword fights. This is as hard to imagine as the othismos. Soldiers engaged in one on one combat sacrifice protection from their comrades and leave themselves open to attacks from the rear, not to mention the whole notion of tight Roman discipline going out the window. If only the front lines fought, with those behind providing backup, how did the spacing work? Polybius asserted that each legionnaire had six feet laterally to work with, which allowed the men behind him to fill the gap when necessary.
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