Recent discussions of othismos and the Greek hoplite have raised the question of how similar/different shieldwall warfare was to phalanx fighting. They have also raised the possibility that othismos and the medieval English "press" may be represent a similar state within a close-order combat.
It has been noted, too, that the Byzantines spoke of their style of infantry combat, which relied on the formation known as a foulkon or fulcum, in terms relating to othismos. While the Byzantines were influenced by classical manuals, they also drew a great deal on Roman experience (they were after all a Roman army) as well as the hint that the word foulkon itself may link this formation linguistically to German tactics.
So, is the classical othismos a manifestation of a wider phenomenon of close order infantry combat? Do we see similar "crowding" behaviour in medieval battles?
Now then, having followed the discussion as much as one can as it ranges across threads and history, I'm left with a question.
Was Othismos something unit commanders and generals planned for, or was it merely something that occasionally happened under certain circumstances whether they wanted it to or not?
Could they attempt to 'provoke it' into happening, perhaps by shouting 'one step more' and getting everybody around them to take up the shout, or was it just something that could end up being a damned nuisance and they tried to prevent it?