The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal & the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic

by Robert L. O'Connell

But in the Stele of the Vultures, Eannatum is backed up by something entirely more lethal—an infantry column, all wearing helmets, advancing shoulder to shoulder behind a barrier of locked rectangular shields and presenting a hedgehog of spears—a full-fledged phalanx.