nits were not 50 strong, however. The assumption then is that at one time the units of the lochos were 50 soldiers each, which he terms the 'archaic lochos.' These were comprised of two pentekostyes, which contained two enomotiai. Each enomotiai contained 23 soldiers, a veteran rear-rank officer (ouragos or tergiductor) and a commanding officer (enomotarch). The commanding officer fought at the front of the phalanx in the right hand rank of his unit. The archaic lochos then, consisted of twelve files, eight ranks deep, 100 man strong with the officers fighting in the front rank. It was commanded by a lochagos who again fought on the right hand file in the front rank.
             The actual form of the phalanx, as Pritchett points out, was flexible where the formation and size is concerned. He details several battles and the depths of the phalanxes to show the variation from one rank (which he questions the validity) to 120 ranks (Pritchett I, 135). Thucydides clearly states in 5.68 that although the Spartans were generally arrayed eight men deep at Mantineia, it was up to the lochagos to decide the depth of the lochos. Even with these discrepancies, this archaic lochos can be considered for the base understanding of the phalanx.
             The soldiers who made up the phalanxes, the armies queen of battle in this period, were
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