The Sarissa joint

[Rob Miles]

Hello everyone

Sorry for my inactivity-- I had another breakdown at the beginning of Feb which also torpedoed any chance of joining in the Hydaspes fun (not enough infantry painted).

However, I'm on the mend and am cross-browed with frustration at trying to find out how exactly the two halves of the Sarissa were connected. I know a metal sleeve was involved, but how was it 'locked' to prevent slippage? Also, what other mechanism was used to keep the wooden ends perfectly in contact (to avoid wobblage and to ensure that any successful stab was not immediately rewarded with a meaningful 'pop')?

I can find nothing to answer this question, although I am sure the 'experimental archaeologists' would have a very good idea.

I am grateful for any enlightenment on this matter. It may seem weird to be losing sleep over something like this, but...

Rob

[aligern]

An answer from Duncan would be best, but the whole idea of the sarissa having a joint has been cast into question. The object that was exhibited at the Asmolean museum  a couple of years ago, from a Macedonian tomb and claimed as a sarissa joint has been doubted. I think I am right in saying that they do not appear in art and there are practical arguments about the spear being broken in the middle, one if which is that it would be tapered along its length and making a joint that tapers would be complex.  Renaissance pikes are made to a similar length and need no joint mid way .
So I would hokd off on having a central sleeve joint.
Roy

[Ian61]

I will be fascinated by the experts answers to this one. There are certainly historians out there talking about a joint but having done some nifty demonstrations on the idea of forces and moments in days past whilst teaching Physics and being a keen DIYer I am with Roy, making joint to form a long pole from two shorter ones to support the curtain across our front door was a challenge even with today's materials the forces such a joint would have on it would be enormous. Does anyone have any references to them being carried? surely even at half length it would be easier to buddy up to carry them in similar fashion to a canoe today but such information might help judge whether the lengths carried were whole or halved.
Ian

[Jim Webster]

I've never been impressed with the idea of a joint. If it was a metal sleeve it would have to be pretty long to ensure the wood was well supported, and pretty thick to ensure that the joint wasn't torn by the forces imposed on it when the pike was used.
So I can see it being awfully heavy

[Duncan Head]

The idea of the "sarissa joint" was based on Andronicos' reconstruction in the 1970s of a very heavy sarissa of consistent diameter throughout, using the iron tube found in one burial to join two pieces. Two more recent analyses of the sarissa (Peter Connolly, "Experiments with the Sarissa – the Macedonian pike and cavalry lance – a functional view" in Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies, Vol. 11, (2000); Nicholas Sekunda, "The Sarissa", Acta Universitatis Lodziensis, Folia Archaeologica 23 (2001)) both suggest a spearshaft made in one piece, tapering to a smaller spearhead than Andronicos suggested, and no "joint" at all. There's no very good ideas on what that iron tube is, though, unless it's some sort of one-off field repair.

[Rob Miles]

Hello everyone

Thanks to Duncan for his, as ever, authoritative response and for the others in confirming my suspicions based on practical experience.

It always had to me the whiff of academic invention- anyone with experience of joining wood (or even a pool cue) will know that you need a core of some kind for any such joint to be sound. As with academic myths about the non-existence of othismos ( , once an idea becomes embedded in learned circles it takes a certain amount of awkward question asking to unseat it.

I have always thought that tube to be some kind of support or counterbalance- perhaps to aid getting the thing upright in a hurry when in a tight formation, but this is as much conjecture as the joint theory.

However.

I am aware, and have seen the videos, of some attempts at replicating the two-part sarissa with a metal sleeve, but have yet to hear whether it worked just as a sleeve or if they used some kind of 'cheat', such as a screw thread, cotter pin or the like. Most of the ones I have seen 'drilling' have been single piece affairs.

And, yes, they did wobble quite a bit...

Rob