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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 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.


Size and organisation

Evolving as it did with ancient Greek warfare 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 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'', 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 and Arrian 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 ''
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 ...
'' and the file closer an ''ouragos''. The men in the uneven rows were called '' protostates'', among which the ''lochagos'', and the men in the even rows '' epistates''. 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'', 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, and the ''lochos'' by a ''
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 ...
''. 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 Sacred Band of Thebes, 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 and Sparta in 546 BC. This number would give a frontage of about 40 shields given the traditional eight-deep phalanx, 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-sized military unit, while contubernium designated the files of a tagma. According to the '' Sylloge Tacticorum'', written in the 10th century, it was a formation of 16 men led by a ''
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 ...
''. 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 ''
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 ...
'' 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.


See also

* Cohort, a Roman military unit of about the same size as a large lochos * Sacred Band (disambiguation) for a number of units named ''Ieros Lochos'' in Greek history * Tagma (military)


References

{{Italic title Military units and formations of ancient Greece Military units and formations of Greece Military units and formations by size Ancient Greek military terminology