How much did fighting in an Ancient Greek war as someone in a

>>2968639
Nobody knows exactly how it worked, educated guesses are the best we can do, but no, they never separated for one-on-one fighting. The whole point was to break the other phalanx. Once that was accomplished the battle was essentially over.

>>2968703
This. Phalanges are vulnerable from the sides and rear, thus breaking formation was literal suicide.

Straight on blender. Packing more depth into one wing let you overwhelm the enemy routing them and letting you flank the other wing. One on one fighting was shit they did back in the bronze age like in Illiad, though even later on in Hellenic period badasses like Pyrrhus accepted one on one fights. Why? Who knows. Champion combat in Greek world was done in the olympics and other games.

>>2968639
Here's how it probably went down, according to ancient sources.
>Agreed upon field of battle is chosen by the opponents
>Armies gather, form phalanxes
>The field is flat, so the phalanxes can function properly
>Start marching against each other, with paeans playing and lots of war cries
>Phalanxes tend to veer off course every little while so generals guide the formations towards the enemy
>"Synaspismos", i.e. shield-locking holds the line
>contact is made, a few initial jabs and what the Greeks called "othismos" starts. It's shield bashing
>Basically pushing against the enemy line as spearheads jab overhead on both sides
>One phalanx loses a few men, can't hold its line, and the men scatter
>Team "better pushers" wins

>>2968639
>How much did fighting in an Ancient Greek war as someone in a phalanx (I don't know my terminology but you get the jest) actually come down to skill.
The silver shields were able to march right through an opposing phalanx with ease. They literally got broken up and killed off because there was no way to deal with them if they decided to result-decades of experience allowed them to shit on line units with ease.

>blender
Yes. The first phase of training for a phalanginite involved being assigned a file leader and then following them, single file, EVERYWHERE like a duckling. They'd fight in a more traditional manner if someone got close enough for swords, or they had to assault a fortress. Alexanders men were trained to fight with sword and javelin as much as the pike. The diadochi may or may not have done the same, but seem to have preferred using specialist units for literally everything.