how did ancient greek hoplites fight

“Taktikè Technè—the Neglected Element in Classical ‘Hoplite’ Battles.” Ancient Society 41:45–82. The total weight dropped to 14–21 kg. [21] The Chigi vase is important for our knowledge of the hoplite soldier because it is one if not the only representation of the hoplite formation, known as the phalanx, in Greek art. “’With Your Shield or On It’: Combat Applications of the Greek Hoplite Spear and Shield.” In The Cutting Edge: Studies in Ancient and Medieval Combat, ed. Only a complete madman would have gone into battle in ancient Greece without armor—and that madman would have, of course, been almost instantly killed. In total, such armor was very heavy, weighing up to 34 kg, which certainly made it very difficult for the hoplite to maneuver during the fight. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 26. If Keegan is right that in other times and places infantry lines did not crash into each other, we require good evidence for believing that Greeks were different. But the biggest difficulty is imagining a battle between one side with shields interlocked and the other with men spaced twice as far apart. “Battle: (A) land battles.” In The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, 2 vols., ed. I will begin with the weight of hoplite equipment and the nature of the Archaic phalanx, or rather, the Archaic phalanges or ranks. In battle, opposing phalanxes would exploit this weakness by attempting to overlap the enemy's right flank. Cahn, David. Hans van Wees. I would not be surprised to find the rugby analogy somewhere earlier. But J. K. Anderson argues that warriors raised their thrusting spears to an overhand position before they reached the enemy; reenactors in London agree with him.44 Anderson believes that the hoplites in the second line on the right on the Chigi vase are shown in the act of raising their spears by flipping them up into the air just enough to grab them again with their thumbs reversed. These existed at times in Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Syracuse, among others. 1973. War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Mesoamerica. Contrary to other city states, the free citizens of Sparta served as hoplites their entire lives, training and exercising in peacetime, which gave Sparta a professional standing army. 2011. I would like to see reenactors practicing with lighter poplar and willow shields weighing a realistic 4–5 kg. Philosophisch-philologische und historische Klasse. This led to the development of the ekdromos light hoplite. 1956. Delbrück 1975: 58, a translation of the third German edition of 1920. Washington, D.C.: Center for Hellenic Studies. [4] The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were able to afford a linen armour or a bronze armour suit and weapons (estimated at a third to a half of its able-bodied adult male population). The context for this passage is Woodhouse’s peculiar discussion of Thucydides 5.71, where Thucydides says that each man kept close to his right-hand neighbor’s shield out of fear. Fighting at a distance (Iliad 8.66–67): So long as it was early morning and the sacred daylight increasing, so long the thrown weapons of both took hold, and people fell. 8. [29][30], According to Nefiodkin, fighting against Greek heavy infantry during the Greco-Persian Wars inspired the Persians to introduce scythed chariots.[31]. Rüstow and Köchly 1852: 16–17. The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days. 1911. Whether they lined up with three feet per man or had a few feet more, most armies lost their formation as they advanced and charged. 1928. Oxford: Blackwell. The Greek State at War, 5 vols. Greek Hymns: Selected Cult Songs from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, 2 vols. Hanson 2000: 68–69, 152–59, 171–84, 1999: 262; Anderson 1970: 175–76, 1984; Cart-ledge 1977: 15–16. It is a matter of contention, among historians, whether the hoplite used the spear overarm or underarm. Instead there was increased reliance on navies, skirmishers, mercenaries, city walls, siege engines, and non-set piece tactics. “Fighting by the Rules: The Invention of the Hoplite Agôn.” Hesperia 71:23–39, reprinted in E. Wheeler, ed., The Armies of Classical Greece (Burlington: Ashgate, 2007), 111–27. 1. ), as Professor Woodhouse supposes. And the three shields that have survived with enough wood to be identified were poplar, willow, and poplar or willow—precisely the woods recommended by the Roman naturalist Pliny for shields (Natural History 16.209). More about bows and arrows. W. G. Moon, 15–36. Because their density is so much lower than the density of oak or even pine, a shield made of willow or poplar will weigh roughly half as much as one made of oak and two-thirds to three-quarters as much as one made of pine. Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience. Van Wees, Hans. Leiden: Brill, 183–204. Berkeley: University of California Press. W. J. Woodhouse had the latter in mind in his 1933 book King Agis III of Sparta and His Campaign in Arkadia in 418 B.C. 2009. Perhaps the earliest warrior on a Greek vase who certainly carries a double-handled round shield in action provides a clue.72 He does not wear a bronze-plate cuirass. Classical Greek sources do use some of the terms that Asklepiodotos uses to describe file intervals, like density (pyknosis) and variants of 'shields together' (synaspismos), in special situations where hoplites would draw close together. You have to watch closely to catch Alan Pittman doing it in one of his YouTube demonstration videos, so quickly and smoothly does his hand change position as he raises his arm.45 J. F. Lazenby argues that changing grips would have been more difficult after the fighting started, and this would be particularly true if Matthew is correct that the weights of the spearhead and butt spike mean the spear’s center of gravity would be well toward the butt spike, not in the middle, so that perhaps 2 m of his spear would extend in front of the warrior.46 Lazenby points out that underhand thrusts shown on vases are invariably in duels, while the (admittedly few) vases showing hoplite lines about to engage show raised spears. Berkeley: University of California Press. 56. If the Boeotian shield on vases is often used by a hero, perhaps that is because it was used by aristocraticpromachoi, aristocrats who fought in the front line. Burbank, Calif.: Distributed by Warner Home Video. Greek battles did not take place on village streets, and the Greeks were very well acquainted with their own military history. Hell. Leipzig. If the men had previously walked some distance, it helped them regain their order, as they found their places and fell into step with the movements of the dance. Other writers, starting with Johannes Kromayer, have argued that the porpax shield could have been used in a mixed fight.26 While it is true that this shield protects the left side better than the right (as any shield carried in the left hand does), a hoplite could get squarely behind the shield by turning sideways with his left foot forward. Argivische Schilde. The Chigi olpe, for instance, was painted in Corinth about 640, from which Martin Nil-son concluded that “the Chigi vase gives the lower boundary; hoplite tactics were fully enacted in the second half of the seventh century” (1929: 240). History and warfare. Equipment was not standardized, although there were doubtless trends in general designs over time, and between city-states. The main offensive weapon used was a 2.5–4.5-metre (8.2–14.8 ft) long and 2.5-centimetre (1 in) in diameter spear called a doru, or dory. Dayton, John C. 2006. … During the Greco-Persian Wars (499–448 BC), alliances between groups of cities (whose composition varied over time) fought against the Persians. And what happens next in Iliad 8? Are hoplites slaves or soldiers? 1976. Forthcoming from the Institute of Classical Studies, London. 1996. Perhaps in some context hoplon could refer to the shield, but this was not generally the case. Kagan, Donald, and Gregory Viggiano. [22] The large amounts of hoplite armour needed to then be distributed to the populations of Greek citizens only increased the time for the phalanx to be implemented. On the other hand, van Wees and I have both argued that Greek warriors might have had more space. Once one of the lines broke, the troops would generally flee from the field, sometimes chased by psiloi, peltasts, or light cavalry. 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