The Arms, Armor, and Iconography of Early Greek Hoplite Warfare | Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece | Princeton Scholarship Online (2024)

FAQs

What armour and weapons did the hoplites use? ›

Most hoplites were non-professional soldiers in Greek armies although some city-states had groups of well-trained professional soldiers. Despite most of the soldiers being non-professional, they were given great equipment (a spear, shield, and sword) and were protected by bronze armor.

Hoplites (/ˈhɒplaɪts/ HOP-lytes) (Ancient Greek: ὁπλῖται, romanized: hoplîtai [hoplîːtai̯]) 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.

hoplite, heavily armed ancient Greek foot soldier whose function was to fight in close formation. Until his appearance, probably in the late 8th century bce, individual combat predominated in warfare.

They fought primarily in a phalanx, a tightly packed shield and spear formation that might be several ranks deep and many soldiers wide. A highly successful 'war machine', the phalanx was used primarily against other Greeks who obeyed the same honor-bound rules of warfare.

A notable feature of Greek armors in this period is that their designs covered almost entire critical parts of the body with metals, mostly bronze, while they still enabled mobility and vision of the soldier; the helmet covered all the head and neck with thick metal, except for eyes and a small portion of the mouth for ...

The linothorax was the most popular type armour worn by the hoplites, since it was cost-effective and provided decent protection. The richer upper-class hoplites typically had a bronze breastplate of either the bell or muscled variety, a bronze helmet with cheekplates, as well as greaves and other armour.

Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states and their primary armor were spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers would of been wearing about 70lbs of armor. The most important aspect of Hoplite warfare was the phalanx formation.

They advanced in close formation while protected by their overlapping shields. A successful battle often consisted of one phalanx, hundreds of men across and eight or more warriors deep, pushing against an enemy's phalanx until one or the other broke formation, exposing its hoplites to danger and death.

A phalanx (φάλανξ) is a formation. A hoplite (ὁπλίτης) is a type of soldier, as is a pikeman.

A hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states. A hoplite's main weapon was his spear. They fought close together in what was called a phalanx formation. In a phalanx, each man's shield protected himself and also gave some protection to the right arm of the man on his left.

How much did Greek armor weigh? ›

fun fact. Ancient Greek soldiers wore and carried armor, usually made of bronze, that weighed about seventy pounds—a lot to lug around!

The Greeks believed in gods and goddesses who, they thought, had control over every part of people's lives. The Ancient Greeks believed that they had to pray to the gods for help and protection, because if the gods were unhappy with someone, then they would punish them.

Weapons & Armour

The principal weapons of a hoplite infantryman were a long ash wood spear (doru) and a short sword (xiphos). The spear measured on average 2.5 metres (8 ft.) in length and was fitted with a bronze or iron blade and a four-sided end spike (sauroter).

The typical panoply included an eight- to ten-foot thrusting spear with an iron tip and butt, and bronze armor consisting of a helmet, cuirass (chest armor), greaves (shin guards), and a large shield about 30 inches in diameter.

Spartan hoplites were often depicted bearing a transverse horsehair crest on their helmet, which was possibly used to identify officers. During the Archaic period, Spartans were armored with flanged bronze cuirasses, leg greaves, and a helmet, often of the Corinthian type.

During the 7th century bc the Greek city-states adopted a phalanx eight men deep. The Greek hoplite, the heavy-armed infantryman who manned the phalanx, was equipped with a round shield, a heavy corselet of leather and metal, greaves (shin armour), an 8-foot pike for thrusting, and a 2-foot double-edged sword.