[Agema]

Battles between two phalanxes actually were relatively bloodless - they were largely huge shoving matches. The reason for this is that phalanxes were very close order units to start with, and when two met, the crush meant that the unwieldy pikes were not good at cutting the enemy down. The casualties tended to occur when one side routed and were cut down fleeing.

The Greek way of warfare was a very different matter from the Middle Eastern. The Persians/Babylonians/Assyrians etc. mostly relied on missile fire or smashing the enemy with chariots or cavalry, or in the case of the Persians sheer volume of numbers. However, their bulk spearmen quite evidently tended to be poor quality, mostly unarmoured, and it's very doubtful they fought as ordered units in the way the Greeks or Romans did. They were probably pretty much light infantry on a par with peltasts, except maybe not even that good. They may have had pikes on occasion, but I think we can consider it doubtful they operated much that was comparable to (or as effcetive as) a phalanx or medieval pikemen.