dis2@houxm.UUCP (A.NESTOR) (12/15/83)
Re:the phalanx
Laura Creighton correctly points out that the phalanx was developed by
Alexander the Great (think of all the "was he? wasn't he?"speculation
about him!) and cannot therefore be applied to the Spartans or any
other Greek army before Alexander or his father, Philip. The phrase
should have been "Spartan hoplites". A hoplite was a "citzen soldier"
who armed and trained himself and went to battle at his own expense to
fight for the common good. Consequently hoplites never fought in for-
mations but simply side by side in lines. The Spartans were also
suspect because the state supervised the training of its hoplites.
The phalanx became possible only with a professional, trained army,
something which did not exist in Greece until after the Pelopenessian
War. In the Republic, Plato ( another one?) was the first to advocate
a military class, which his contemporaries regarded as something un-
Greek and more suited to the barbaroi. The treachery of Alicibiades
(The Fair!!??), a semi-professional soldier, and his faction was one
reason for the condemnation of Socrates(????). Note that Alexander
and Philip were Macendonians and thus barbaroi. Their defeat of the
Athenians is regarded as the final end of the "Golden Age" of Greece.
Re:Creighton
The name, Creighton , is from the Scotch Crichton (i.e Creek Town).
The spelling as Creighton is an English adaptation. The British stiil
pronounce it as "criitton" (the terminal has no diacritical marks)
,while the Americans pronounce it as "craation". There are also the
labialised variants, "cliiton" and "claation". Thus one sees Creigh-
ton, Crichton, Crayton, Clayton. I have been called all four (and
many other things!!). I have never seen Cliton or Cleiton, but these
are at least possible. I have often wondered about the orgins of the
name of Creighton University in Omaha.
Creighton Clarkelaura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (12/18/83)
Whoops. I said that Philip of Macedon invented the phalanx. Alexander used it, however. Philip is Alexander's dad. He organised the Macedonian barbarians into a fighting force that was able to capture Greek. This was a tough thing. My Creightons are (probably, my grandfather couldn't get it really traced as accurately as he wanted) supposed to be Crichtons. They were Scotch barbarians who were having a fine enough time of it until the English introduced taxation, which they weren't so fond of. The English needed to have a name to tax, and so they called the Crichtons Creightons (something which they could pronounce). My ancestors were in no position to dispute the matter, seeing as *writing* was a new-fangled thing which real barbarians didn't need to know anything about. They tried to end the whole issue by declaring war on the English, were soundly beaten and executed -- except for the escapees which migrated to Ireland. laura creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura