What is "phalanx"

Phalanx \Pha"lanx\, n.; pl. Phalanxes, L. Phalanges. [L., from Gr. ?.]

1. (Gr. Antiq.) A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep. There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men. ``In cubic phalanx firm advanced.''
   --Milton.

   The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower.
   --Pope.

2. Any body of troops or men formed in close array, or any combination of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of a union.

   At present they formed a united phalanx.
   --Macaulay.

   The sheep recumbent, and the sheep that grazed, All huddling into phalanx, stood and gazed.
   --Cowper.

3. A Fourierite community; a phalanstery.

4. (Anat.) One of the digital bones of the hand or foot, beyond the metacarpus or metatarsus; an internode.

5. [pl. Phalanges.] (Bot.) A group or bundle of stamens, as in polyadelphous flowers.

1550s, "line of battle in close ranks," from Latin phalanx "compact body of heavily armed men in battle array," or directly from Greek phalanx (genitive phalangos) "line of battle, battle array," also "finger or toe bone," originally "round piece of wood, trunk, log," of unknown origin. Perhaps from PIE root *bhelg- "plank, beam" (source of Old English balca "balk;" see balk (n.)). The Macedonian phalanx consisted of 50 close files of 16 men each. In anatomy, originally the whole row of finger joints, which fit together like infantry in close order. Figurative sense of "number of persons banded together in a common cause" is attested from 1600 (compare Spanish Falangist, member of a fascist organization founded in 1933).

n. 1 (context plural '''phalanxes''' English) a large group of people, animals or things, compact or closely massed, or tightly knit and united in common purpose. 2 (context skeleton plural '''phalanges''' English) One of the bones of the finger or toe. 3 (context historical plural '''phalanxes''' English) An ancient Greek and Macedonian military unit that consisted of several ranks and files (lines) of soldiers in close array with joined shields and long spears. 4 (context historical sociology English) A Fourierite utopian community; a phalanstery.

1. n. any of the bones (or phalanges) of the fingers or toes

2. any closely ranked crowd of people

3. a body of troops in close array

The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation.

Phalanx may also refer to:

Phalanx is a 1991 space shooter video game developed by ZOOM Inc. and Kemco for the Sharp X68000, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy Advance. The game was released for the X68000 in Japan in 1991, for the SNES in Japan on August 7, 1992 and in North America in October 1992, and for the GBA in Japan on October 26, 2001, in Europe on November 23, 2001 and in North America on December 27, 2001.

Phalanx is infamous for the incongruous box art in its American release: it displays a bearded, elderly man dressed in overalls, wearing a fedora and playing a banjo while a futuristic spaceship flies in the background. The popular media site IGN named it their fifth "Most Awesome Cover" in a top 25 countdown on their website. The box art designers later admitted that they had deliberately chosen this theme in order to attract the customer with something original, considering there were many space shooters in the market that looked alike. The Game Boy Advance release redesigned the cover in favor of a prominent spaceship image.

A mini version called Tiny Phalanx was featured in the ZOOM Inc. 1995 PlayStation fighting game Zero Divide.

The Phalanx are a fictional cybernetic species in the . They have come in conflict with the X-Men and related groups on several occasions. They form a hive-mind, linking each member by a telepathy-like system.

The Phalanx were co-created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Joe Madureira. They owe much in concept and appearance to the original Technarchy (by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz). Although appearing in prototype variations in earlier issues, the Phalanx first appeared in their full form in Uncanny X-Men #312 (May 1994).

Phalanx was an association of artists formed in Munich in 1901.

Phalanx (1944–1971) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. In 1947, he won the Belmont Stakes and was voted American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse.

Phalanx was a jazz quartet featuring guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer, drummer Rashied Ali, tenor saxophonist George Adams, and bassist Sirone. They released three albums in the 1980s, two for DIW Records.

The phalanx (, ; plural phalanxes or phalanges; Ancient and Modern Greek: ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons. The term is particularly (and originally) used to describe the use of this formation in Ancient Greek warfare, although the ancient Greek writers used it to also describe any massed infantry formation, regardless of its equipment, as does Arrian in his Array against the Alans when he refers to his legions. In Greek texts, the phalanx may be deployed for battle, on the march, even camped, thus describing the mass of infantry or cavalry that would deploy in line during battle. They marched forward as one entity. The word phalanx is derived from the Greek word phalangos, meaning finger.

The term itself, as used today, does not refer to a distinctive military unit or division (e.g., the Roman legion or the contemporary Western-type battalion), but to the general formation of an army's troops. Thus a phalanx does not have a standard combat strength or composition but includes the total number of infantry, which is or will be deployed in action in a single phalanx formation.

Many spear-armed troops historically fought in what might be termed phalanx-like formations. The word has come into use in common English to describe "a group of people standing, or moving forward closely together"; c.f. "a phalanx of police".

This article focuses on the use of the military phalanx formation in Ancient Greece, the Hellenistic world, and other ancient states heavily influenced by Greek civilization.

The earliest known depiction of a phalanx-like formation occurs in a Sumerian stele from the 25th century BC. Here the troops seem to have been equipped with spears, helmets, and large shields covering the whole body. Ancient Egyptian infantry were known to have employed similar formations. The first usage of the term phalanx comes from Homer's "(φαλαγξ)", used to describe hoplites fighting in an organized battle line. Homer used the term to differentiate the formation-based combat from the individual duels so often found in his poems.

Historians have not arrived at a consensus about the relationship between the Greek formation and these predecessors of the hoplites. The principles of shield wall and spear hedge were almost universally known among the armies of major civilizations throughout history, and so the similarities may be related to convergent evolution instead of diffusion.

Traditionally, historians date the origin of the hoplite phalanx of ancient Greece to the 8th century BC in Sparta, but this is under revision. It is perhaps more likely that the formation was devised in the 7th century BC after the introduction of the aspis by the city of Argos, which would have made the formation possible. This is further evidenced by the Chigi vase, dated to 650 BC, identifying hoplites armed with aspis, spear and panoply.

Another possible theory as to the birth of Greek phalanx warfare stems from the idea that some of the basic aspects of the phalanx were present in earlier times yet were not fully developed due to the lack of appropriate technology. Two of the basic strategies seen in earlier warfare include the principle of cohesion and the use of large groups of soldiers. This would suggest that the Greek phalanx was rather the culmination and perfection of a slowly developed idea that originated many years earlier. As weaponry and armour advanced through the years in different city-states, the phalanx became complex and effective.

Phalanx is the first live album released by Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. It was recorded live at concerts at Bombay Rock Gold Coast, Queensland and at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in October, 1983, during the 'Semantics' tour. The album was initially released on vinyl in December 1983 and was re-released on CD in May 1995. The album reached #4 on the National Album Charts being released by EMI.

The title of the album is derived from the name for the ancient Greek battle formation where long spears were presented from behind a wall of overlapping shields. The title can also refer more generally to a close-knit group of people, in this case the audience.

The cover features distinctive cartoon images by Michael Leunig with the front depicting five sharks swimming towards a lone wader – they are revealed to be five other swimmers with shark fin hair (see infobox). The back cover cartoon depicts a stage manager warning "Five Minutes Mr. Reyne" at the dressing room door. Meanwhile, Reyne is combing his hair backwards with Brylcream liberally applied, a guitar and a half-full bottle are nearby.

Phalanx was also released by Geffen Records in Europe but under a different title, Australian Crawl: Live, and with a different cover.

"Phalanx was the Crawl's fourth album... It yielded a rollicking single, in the form of the band's raucous cover of The Kingsmen's " Louie Louie"... As this album lodged itself at the top of the charts, the Crawl were off to England for some pre-Christmas shows with Duran Duran." – Glen A. Baker, 1983.