[🇲🇰] How did the Macedonian phalanx Work during Ancient Battles?

[PakistanProud]

'Polybius also states that the overhead of the rest of the pikes would shield them all from missile attacks, but this seems unrealistic at best in reality. I've seen a lot of estimates on how far you could throw a pilum, but most seem to be in the range of 20-30 meters, so lets cut the difference and say 25m, or about 80 feet. That's well beyond the ~15 buffer zone the sarissae give. Appian states in the Syrian Wars that the Romans used their missile weapons to harass the Phalanx, but did not break it, and were forced to let it retreat since they maintained their order, the Romans could not charge it. This is a weakness of the Phalanx for sure, but that bit about maintaining order is important and we'll come back to it.'