A ''lochos'', plural ''lochoi'' (; pl. ), is a tactical sub unit of

Classical Greece Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Mar ...

and of the modern

Greek army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed F ...

. The term derived from the ancient Greek for

ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...

and the men carrying out the ambush, but in practice, its meaning was essentially that of "war-band", a body of armed men. This translation has been used traditionally, e.g. for the

Sacred Band of Thebes The Sacred Band of Thebes (Ancient Greek: , ) was an elite heavy infantry of select soldiers, allegedly consisting of 150 pairs of Homosexuality in ancient Greece, male couples which formed the elite force of the Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Theba ...

Size and organisation

Evolving as it did with

ancient Greek warfare Warfare occurred throughout the history of Ancient Greece, from the Greek Dark Ages onward. The Greek 'Dark Ages' drew to an end as a significant increase in population allowed urbanized culture to be restored, which led to the rise of the city-s ...

from that of tribal Greece to that of the Greek

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...

s, the ''lochos'' varied in size and organisation over time and from city state to city state, ranging in size from a single

file File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to remove fine amounts of material from a workpiece. ** Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to gen ...

to about 640 men. The best surviving description of the ''lochos'' is that by

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

in his ''

Anabasis Anabasis (from Greek ''ana'' = "upward", ''bainein'' = "to step or march") is an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. Anabase and Anabasis may also refer to: History * '' Anabasis Alexandri'' (''Anabasis of Alexander''), ...

'', however this must be taken as being illustrative of a particular time and place, that of 5th century BC

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

, rather than being truly representative.

Aelian Aelian or Aelianus may refer to: * Aelianus Tacticus, 2nd-century Greek military writer in Rome * Casperius Aelianus (13–98 AD), Praetorian Prefect, executed by Trajan * Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus (; ), commonly Aelian (), born at Pr ...

and

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

use the terms lochos as file and

lochagos ''Lochagos'' (; abbreviated ) is used in the Greek language to mean "Captain (land and air), Captain". More precisely, it means "leader of a ''lochos''". The equivalent term in the Hellenic Army Armour & Cavalry is . Ancient and Byzantine use T ...

as file leader.

''Lochos'' as file

A ''lochos'' comprised an inconsistent number of men that could range from 8 to 16 men. Asclepiodotus offers three alternative names, namely ''stichos'' (), ''synomotia'' () and ''dekania'' (). The file leader was called a ''

'' and the file closer an ''ouragos''. The men in the uneven rows were called ''

protostates A ''protostates'' (), in Ancient Greece, was the man in front of an ''epistates'' (the one who stands behind). The Greek phalanx was made up of alternate ranks of ''protostates'' and ''epistates''. Thus, in a file of eight men, the ''protostates' ...

'', among which the ''lochagos'', and the men in the even rows ''

epistates An (; plural ) in ancient Greece was any sort of superintendent or overseer. In the Hellenistic kingdoms generally, an is always connected with a subject district (a regional assembly), where the , as resident representative of the king, exerci ...

''. Should the line perform a ''pyknosis'' (that is, close its ranks by placement of half the ''lochos'' in the interval between the original ''lochoi''), then the ''epistates'' of the ''lochagos'' would become the '' promachos'' ''protostates'' of the newly employed file. A half-file was called ''hemilochion'' () or ''dimoiria'' () and a quarter-file ''enomotia'' ().

Spartan ''lochos''

The Spartan ''lochos'', according to Xenophon, consisted of 640 men, composed of 4 ''pentekostyes'' (pl. of ''pentekostys'') of 160 men, with the ''pentekostyes'' in turn being composed of 4 ''enomotiai'' of about 40 men each. The ''lochos'' in turn formed half of a ''

mora Mora may refer to: People * José Maria Mora (1847–1926), Cuban-American photographer, often credited as "Mora" * Mora (singer) (born 1996), a Puerto Rican singer * Mora (surname), a Spanish name (includes a list of people with the name) Plac ...

'', there being 6 ''morai'' in the

Spartan Army The Spartan army was the principal ground force of Sparta. It stood at the center of the ancient Greek city-state, consisting of citizens trained in the disciplines and honor of a warrior society.Connolly (2006), p. 38 Subjected to military ...

. The ''morai'' would normally be commanded by a

Polemarch A polemarch (, from , ''polémarchos'') was a senior military title in various ancient Greek city states ('' poleis''). The title is derived from the words '' polemos'' ('war') and ''archon'' ('ruler, leader') and translates as 'warleader' or 'wa ...

, and the ''lochos'' by a ''

''. However, the actual numbers would vary depending on the needs of a campaign. Spartan military organisation relied on dividing its citizen army into eight age classes and a full strength ''enomotiai'' consisted of five men from each of the age classes. However, it was unusual to draw men from the older age classes, so, on campaign, an ''enomotia'' would consist of 30 to 35 men with the ''lokhos'' and ''mora'' being correspondingly smaller. If only the first four, or even fewer, age classes were called up, then the "short" organisational ''lochos'' would be grouped together to form a full strength tactical ''lochos''. Whatever the theoretical size of the ''lochos'', units of about 300 men appear frequently in the classical Greek records, this being the number of the

, the Spartans at

Thermopylae Thermopylae (; ; Ancient: , Katharevousa: ; ; "hot gates") is a narrow pass and modern town in Lamia (city), Lamia, Phthiotis, Greece. It derives its name from its Mineral spring, hot sulphur springs."Thermopylae" in: S. Hornblower & A. Spaw ...

, and the number on each side of the Battle of the Champions fought between

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

and Sparta in 546 BC. This number would give a frontage of about 40 shields given the traditional eight-deep

phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...

, and probably represents the smallest number needed to form a usable phalanx.

Byzantine use

In the

Byzantine army The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct continuation of the East Roman army, Eastern Roman army, shaping and developing itself on the legac ...

, the ''lochos'' was used as a term for a

section Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

-sized military unit, while

contubernium In ancient Rome, ''contubernium'' was a quasi-marital relationship between two Slavery in ancient Rome, slaves or between a slave (''Slavery in ancient Rome#The slave in Roman law and society, servus'') and a free person who was usually a form ...

designated the files of a tagma. According to the ''

Sylloge Tacticorum ''Sylloge Tacticorum'' is thought to have been written in the middle of the tenth century, and is a work on the making of order and organization of military forces (i.e. tactics), and ways to outwit and overcome opponents in the field of battle (i. ...

'', written in the 10th century, it was a formation of 16 men led by a ''

''. Subordinate to the lochagos was the '' decurion'', who commanded a squad of 10 men; the ''pentarch'', who commanded four other men; and the ''tetrarch'', who commanded three.

Modern use

The term ''lochos'', along with the associated rank of ''

'' and its derivatives, has been revived in the modern Greek military for a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

-sized command.

References