hoplite
Sign in to savethumb|upright=0.8|right|A Greek hoplite Hoplites ( ; ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimise its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen or bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult ma
AI overview
Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of ancient Greek city-states who fought primarily with spears and shields, typically coming from the ranks of free, propertied farmers and artisans who could afford their own armor and weapons. They were most effective when fighting together in a tight phalanx formation, which discouraged individual action in order to maximize the strength of the group.
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Article
19 sectionsContents
- Warfare
- Equipment
- Body armour
- Shield
- Spear
- Sword
- Theories on the transition to fighting in the phalanx
- Gradualist theory
- Rapid adoption theory
- Extended gradualist theory
- History
- Ancient Greece
- Sparta
- Macedonia
- Hoplite-style warfare outside Greece
- Hellenistic period
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|upright=0.8|right|A Greek hoplite Hoplites ( ; ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldiers from acting alone, for this would compromise the formation and minimise its strengths. The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen or bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult male population). Some states maintained a small elite professional unit, known as the epilektoi or logades ('the chosen') because they were picked from the regular citizen infantry. These existed at times in Athens, Sparta, Argos, Thebes, and Syracuse, among other places. Hoplite soldiers made up the bulk of ancient Greek armies.
In the 8th century BC, Greek armies started to adopt the phalanx formation. The formation proved successful in defeating the Persians when employed by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC during the First Greco-Persian War. The Persian archers and light troops who fought in the Battle of Marathon failed because their bows were too weak for their arrows to penetrate the wall of Greek shields of the phalanx formation. The phalanx was also employed by the Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC and at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC during the Second Greco-Persian War.