Editing Flying wedge (section)

==== Byzantium ====
[[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Nikephoros II|Nikephoros Phocas]] analyzes the wedge formation of the [[Byzantine army|Byzantine]] [[Cataphract]]s in the third chapter of his ''[[Praecepta Militaria]]''. There, he relates that the wedge must be formed by 354 cataphracts and 150 horse archers to a total number of 504 men. The row of the first line comprised 20 horsemen, the second 24, the third 28, down to the 12th line, which consisted of 64 men. If such a number of men is not available, he proposes that the wedge be formed by 304 cataphracts and 80 horse archers, or a total of 384 men, the first line comprising 10 men. In his next chapter (''Ordinance on Cavalry Deployment''), he ordains that the wedge must be accompanied by two cavalry units, which will guard its flanks. A wedge whose ranks are not complete in the middle is shaped as an Λ instead of a Δ and is called a hollow wedge, or in Greek κοιλέμβολον,
''koilembolon''.