Hoplite Warfare and Its Development

Hoplite Warfare and Its Development

The Hoplite Warfare

The Hoplite and Armaments

Bringing glory to the history of ancient warfare, the Hoplites are considered to be the primary core of the Greek Infantry. The hoplites, derived from the word hoplon, considered to be a part of the complete equipment of the Greek soldier. These equipments were later on referred to as the entire hoplon which consists of the hoplite's panoplies, structural armor and shield. The circular shield in other historical references is referred to as the aspis, used to protect the Greek soldier from the spheres and arrows from the warring opponent. The hoplites during the 8th Century BC were not regular soldiers and infantry men. They were commonly recruited from the citizens of ancient Greece and city states usually coming from the middle class citizens. It I said that even great personalities of ancient times have undergone some experience as a hoplite. During this period, Greek soldiers or hoplites provides their own gear and armaments. This would include their armor, breastplate, helmet, shield, sword and sphere. The provisions of these equipments were not subsidized by the state and were very costly during this time. The aristocrats and the middle class alone could afford such expensive armaments that are vital in Greek Warfare. Although there are other hoplites that belong to the lower class of the ancient Greek society, this class of hoplites have a less inferior armor and shields. Bronze is the most frequent materials used to make body armor by a middle class hoplite. The rest of the hoplite equipment includes a helmet which is adorned with a horsehair crest, a breastplate to shield the upper portion of the body and greaves, a piece of armor worn from the ankle to the knee to protect the lower extremities. The Total weight of its body armor and panoplies would amount to 50 to 60 pounds, which is almost a quarter to a half of an average hoplite body weight. During the early stages of the Ancient Greek Warfare, these body armor and equipments were not in uniform with each member of the whole infantry. This is probably one of the reasons why hoplites most of the time cannot distinguish allies from the enemies and vice versa. The class and status in the society of hoplite can be very well seen in his armor and type of equipment. A hoplite can freely adorn his armor and gear as he pleases. While other hoplites of the city states have various identities impressed in their armor or panoplies, notably the Athenian State did not provide any armament or equipments to their soldiers, in the later period of Greek Warfare, hoplite warriors from Sparta introduced uniformity in their infantry and armaments. Distinctive of their shining armor and crested shields they depict a typical Spartan Hoplite which in Greek history would conquer and rule over the Athenians.

Due to the big expense of this equipment, especially those made of costly bronze plates, many lower class hoplites opted for much less expensive body armor. These are fabricated with several layers of linen a durable fabric embedded from the spun fiber of flax and were fortified by metal plates.

The hoplite's typical weaponry consists of a thrusting sphere which is 2.7 meters in length or about 6 1/2 to 10 feet long. In close battle a hoplite carries a sword called a xiphos, cased in a wooden scabbard with a cord sling around the hoplite's neck suspended besides his waist. He would use this sword to deter and protect himself against charging opponents in the event that the thrusting sphere would break. As a primary means of protection, the hoplite shield is vital to a hoplite's success or survival during a battle. This is a big rounded shield enough to cover a hoplite from a charging opponent and arrows from archers. The basic component of the shield is made out of wood, plated with bronze or metal and back cushioned with layers of fabric and leather. 1.) Besides its primary function as a protective device, the shield also had symbolic meaning. A Spartan mother had warned her son to "return either with your shield or on it" (Spartan shields were large enough to serve as stretchers or funeral biers). If a hoplite returned home alive without the shield, it meant that he had thrown it away while running for his life (its weight made it a formidable obstacle to fast running), an act of cowardice. (Roger Dunkle, Brooklyn College)

Combat and Tactics

The Hoplite Greek Warfare is basically an up-close attack battle where the two armies or infantry would be positioned in both ends. Historians revered this battle to be a pure display of courage and honesty facing each opponent in the battle field in broad daylight. The attack would convene into a march and then would literally run towards the battleground in an upfront combat. The infantry formation is referred to as a phalanx. 2. The hoplite phalanx was a well-organized weapon of destruction. The soldiers stood with locked shields and lumbered, like a tank bristling with spears, across the field of battle it is in contrast to the disorganized individual fighting of the Dark Ages (Jefferey Lumb, HSC Online)

Lined up for battle both advancing party would march or run with their spheres extended toward the enemy. The main goal of each warring opponent is to break this formation and exposing the hoplites protected behind or under the formation of the hoplite's linked shields. 3. Each of the hoplites would rely with protection of his shield his fellow hoplite guarding his side. With a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right, each man depended on his fellow hoplite's shield for full body coverage. Battles were won and lost depending on the phalanx's ability to hold its formation (Hoplite Experience, Holy Cross Edu.). Upon close contact, hoplites that are positioned at the back of the formation would engage into a pushing motion forcing the front liners to penetrate the defenses of the enemy. 4. This combat tactic is called othismos, a hoplite approach in attack which literally boosts a mass-shove as elaborated in Othismos: The Importance of Mass-Shove in Hoplite Warfare (Robert Luginbill, 1994). Once the opposing infantry penetrated the defenses of the enemy the hoplites would engaged themselves in a brutal hand to hand battle using their primary weapons, the sphere thrust or the sword. The attack is swift and the result of the battle is decisive. In this type of warfare, one amongst the two martial parties would be declared victorious in such a short period of time which usually only last for a few hours upon close encounter. In contrast with contemporary forms of warfare lesser casualties are expected to arise where only about 5% from the losing side would constitute the dead and the wounded. Notably, during the attacks and the actual battle, the ranking officers and generals are up front his regiment to lead the assault head on. Unlike in a later time when the officers and generals are at the back of the formation planning and orchestrating tactics while the infantry men sets into battle. This is primarily the reason why most of the early casualties of Greek Wars are most likely from the notable citizens and generals who participated in battle.

The Hoplite Warfare is intense. This brings out the courage and valor of every hoplite warrior even several days away from the actual battle. With the obstacles that a hoplite experience even before the battle starts is already a test of endurance, patience and discipline in order to carry out precise tactics. Such obstacles would include the burden of its armor and the rest of its weaponry. During this period the armor, heavy as it is, has no form of insulation. With the amount of heat it conducts, wearing it in broad daylight would induce dehydration even before the confrontation takes place. The helmet has a limited visual opening making it hard for the hoplite to see the actual combat as it occurs. It also has no provision for hearing, thus the sound a hoplite hears are just muffled sound, which is very difficult especially during tactical maneuvers since he can barely hear the commands and instructions of the commanding officers and generals. In this situation a hoplite would only depend on the movement of his surroundings stimulated by his peers in battle. The movements and the motions of the attack is at pace with the movements of the whole infantry. Each hoplite relies mostly on pure instinct and with the subliminal information that he gets from the progression of his fellow hoplite.

The attack is atrocious and rapid. The march towards the enemy must be precise and have got to be in unanimity with the whole group of hoplites. A single weak link in the phalanx formation would spell doom and failure for the whole infantry. As part of the tactical maneuvers, the best troops are place in front and at the back of the phalanx to assure that the formation would push through the enemy lines with less difficulty. As the formation collides with one another, spheres are aimed at the groin of each opponent. The sword swings an aim towards an enemies head and vital parts of the body. Extreme agility and presence of mind are required to every hoplite in the exhausting close combat.

The defeated phalanx has only two choices to survive: The first option would be is to drop their weapons and flee hastily without being pursued by the victorious opponent which is normal in Greek Warfare. The second option is to retreat in the same formation in an orderly manner. However, this situation based on historical events often happens. After which, 5. victory was enforced by ransoming the fallen back to the defeated, called the "custom of the Greeks"(Wikipedia Encyclopedia, 2005).

History: Development and Downfall

As the economy of Ancient Greece developed, city states have focused their attention in developing a much reliable armies of foot army. During the Sixth and Seventh Century B.C. military service were held as a symbol of distinction of citizenship. Common among the recruited soldiers were the aristocrats and noblemen of Greece. 6. In the early sixth century B.C., the archon Solon instituted four classes defined by income and gave each class a proportionate measure of political responsibility. The second wealthiest class, the hippeis ("horsemen"), earned enough from their land to maintain a horse and so fought as cavalry; the third wealthiest group, the zeugitai, were able to afford the equipment of a hoplite; the wealthiest class, the pentakosiomedimnoi ("five-hundred-bushel men"), supplied the leaders for the armed forces; and the poorest class, the thetes, were hired laborers who served as oarsmen in the Athenian fleet, or as archers and light-armed men on land (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006)

King Philip of Macedonia initiated the establishment of a professional army of hoplites. In the early century, hoplites were part of the citizen militia. However the new norms in the precise and highly disciplined training of the hoplites were in the verge which eventually was adapted by the city state of Sparta.

At the height of the Hoplite Wars in the Eight-Century B.C. several changes and development have evolved within the ranks and class of the hoplites. Greek Warfare was principally held on land battle with the development of the phalanx formation. It is a formation used by the hoplites to defend the ranks while in the line of attack. Initiating a rectangular formation, hoplites would lock their shield or Aspis while moving forward with the thrust sphere extended towards the enemy. The effectiveness of this formation was proven in Marathon with the victory of the Athenians over the Persians. In this period, the Persian War brought forth some changes with the usual armament of the hoplites. Having been instructed to pursue the archers of Persia in battle, innovations were made on the basic components of the panoplies of the hoplites. It adapted other lighter materials to make the armor and helmets. Their shields were reduced to a smaller size but are still capable of protecting the phalanx formation of the hoplites. The Persian War also brought forth augmentation of other military personnel in the army. Specifically, the Athenians commissioned peltasts, a type of light infantry in ancient Greek Warfare. They often function as skirmishers for the army, a small troop lined in for short lightning battles. Athenians also started to implore the services of additional cavalry in response to the tactics of the Persian Army.