Enomoty

Spartan enomotion with 36 men (enomotarch with black shield)

The enomoty (Greek: ἐνωμοτία) was the smallest subdivision of the ancient Greek armies in the phalanx and probably consisted of 36 men in Sparta, otherwise 25 to 32 men. The term is derived from enomotos (ἐν-ώμοτος), which means sworn or committed by an oath and indicates that an oath of service had to be taken before being hired in the phalanx. The leader was called Enomotarch (ἐνωμόταρχος).

Enomotie with 25 men (Enomotarch = black shield, Ouragos = green shield)

The strength of the enomoty can only be inferred by evaluating the known facts. The next higher subdivision was called Pentekostie (πεντηκοστύς from pentekoste = fifty) and comprised two enomoties. It is therefore assumed that the enomoty originally comprised 25 men who stood in three rows of eight men side by side in the phalanx. The enomotarch was probably standing on the right wing, while the 25th man, probably a veteran and experienced hoplite , stood behind the formation, making sure that everyone remained in the formation and was called Ouragos (actually the Rottenschloßer ). In later times the strength of the enomoty can also be reduced to 24 men, or increased to 32 men, with the omission of the Ouragos, whereby two groups of 12 men each or three to four groups of eight men each could be formed.

If the enomotie moved in a row during the march, the order of battle was drawn up with several squads from a left-wing deployment, so that the squad leaders came into the first battle line.

For the Spartan army there are indications that the enomotie had 36 men, from which three groups of 12 men deep could be formed.

While the enomotia in the phalanx usually formed three groups, there are exceptions such as the Battle of Delion , where the Theban general Pagondas reinforced his right wing to a depth of 25 men. The increase from 8 or 12 to 25 man depth should therefore not have been an arbitrary determination. Rather, on the right wing of the Theban army at Delion, each enomoty formed only a single group.

swell

• Thucydides , The Peloponnesian War , V, 68
• Xenophon , Hellenika, VI, 4:12
• Xenophon, Lakedaimonion Politeia , V and XI, 8

literature

• Peter Connolly, Greece and Rome at war, London 1981
• Victor Davis Hanson, The War in Ancient Greece, undated 2001 (London 1999)
• Quantity - Güthling , Langenscheidt's large dictionary Greek-German with etymology, Berlin 1973
• Little Pauly