Hoplite

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Recreation of a 4th-3rd Century Hoplite

The hoplite was a heavy infantryman, the central focus of warfare in Ancient Greece. They were the first encounter assault warriors, in front of saboteurs, archers and rams. The word hoplite (Greek ὁπλίτης, hoplitēs) derives from hoplon (ὅπλον, plural hopla, ὅπλα) meaning an item of armour or equipment. These soldiers probably first appeared in the late seventh century BC. They were a citizen-militia and were armed as spearmen in a phalanx formation. They were relatively easy to equip and maintain; and could afford the cost of the armaments. Almost all the famous men of ancient Greece, even philosophers and playwrights, fought as hoplites.^[1]^[2]

Since the hoplites were a militia force and did not receive permanent wages, campaigns were short. Spartan warriors were exceptions; they were dedicated soldiers and had their state-allotted lands managed for them by the lower class. Armies marched directly to their target. There, the defenders could hide behind city walls, in which case the attackers generally had to content themselves with ravaging the countryside (as siegecraft were undeveloped), or meet them on the field. Battles were usually set piece and intended to be decisive. These battles were short, bloody, and brutal, and thus required a high degree of discipline. Both forces lined up on a level field, usually in a rough rectangular formation around eight ranks deep (though this varied). Other troops were less important; hippeis (cavalry) generally protected the flanks, when present at all, and both light infantry and missile troops were negligible. The most well-known hoplites were the Spartans, who were trained from childhood in combat and warfare to become an exceptionally disciplined and superior fighting force.

1 Equipment
2 Tactics
3 Rise and fall
4 Legacy
5 In popular culture
6 Further reading
7 References
8 External links

Equipment

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Image:Hoplite armour exhibit at the Corfu Museum closeup.jpg

Hoplite armour exhibit at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu. Note the gold inserts around the chest area of the bronze breastplate at the centre of the exhibit. The helmet on the upper left is a restored version of the oxidised helmet on the right.

Hoplites generally armed themselves shortly before battle because the equipment was so heavy - the total weight of the hoplites' armour was around 22-27 kilograms (50-60 pounds). Each man provided his own fairly non-uniform gear. As a result of the non-uniform gear, friendly troops would often fail to recognise one another. A hoplite typically had a bronze breastplate (muscled armor), a bronze helmet with cheekplates, as well as greaves and other armor, plus a bowl-shaped shield called an aspis made from wood or bronze and measuring roughly 1 meter in diameter. It spanned from chin to knee and was very heavy (8-38 kg). It can also be called an hoplon, and when worn a dispus. In Spartan military culture, throwing away a soldier's aspis was not acceptable. The saying went: "Come home with this shield or upon it". Every Greek hoplite had different customised armor, and family symbols on his shield. In contrast, the Spartans had the same uniform and the Greek letter lambda (Λ) on their shield, in reference to their homeland Lacedaemonia. Every Spartan wore a scarlet robe to represent them as Spartans, though the cape was never worn in combat. The design of the helmets used varied through time. The Corinthian helmet was standard, and was the most successful. The crescent on the helmet differed for each city-state. Spartans inverted theirs for leaders and file leaders, while other cities did the opposite. The Thracian helmet had a huge visor in the front to protect the face even more. All helmets were made from bronze. In later periods, linen breastplates called linothorax were used, as they were tougher and cheaper to make. The linen was 0.5 cm thick. The primary weapon was a spear around 2.7 meters in length called a doru. Hoplites also carried a short sword called a xiphos. The short sword was a secondary weapon, after their spear broke. Also, when enemies retreated they would draw their sword and drop their shield, then pursue the enemy. All weapons and armor were mainly made from bronze. Equipment was costly, so only the rich could afford to be hoplites. Soldiers sometimes inherited their father's or grandfather's equipment. If the soldier was rich enough, he could buy a horse and serve in the regular cavalry called Hippeis, or the mounted skirmishers called Hippakontistai. In some city states, it was compulsory to serve a certain number of years as a stationed soldier. But of course, he would still have to buy his own armor and weapons. After the years serving, they could either continue their military careers or live their lives in different professions. But in Spartan culture, every citizen had to be a soldier, so the Helots did their farming or labour. Each Spartan owned their own farm, manned by Helots. Every soldier would get a pension as well as benefits and pay.

By contrast, other contemporary infantry tended to wear relatively light armour, and were armed with shorter spears, javelins, or bows. The medium-sized shield of the hoplite was made possible partly by its shape, which allowed it to be supported on the shoulder. In battle formation, the shields were overlapped so that each defended the left side of the soldier carrying it and the right side of his neighbor. It is a matter of contention among historians whether the hoplite used the spear overarm or underarm. The rear ranks had always had the spear facing upwards.

Tactics

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Hoplites depicted on an Attic vase dated to 510-500 BC

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The strength of hoplites was shock combat. Two armies would smash into each other in hopes of breaking or encircling the enemy force's line. Failing that, a battle degenerated into a pushing match, with the men in the rear trying to force the front lines through those of the enemy. This maneuver was known as the othismos. Battles rarely lasted more than an hour. Once one of the lines broke, the troops would generally flee from the field, sometimes chased by peltasts or light cavalry. If a hoplite escaped, he would sometimes be forced to drop his cumbersome aspis, and be disgraced by his friends and family. Casualties were slight compared to later battles, rarely amounting to more than 5% of the losing side, but the slain often included the most prominent citizens and generals who led from the front. Thus, the whole war could be decided by a single field battle; victory was enforced by ransoming the fallen back to the defeated, called the "Custom of The Greeks". Spartans would never flee the battle, on the contrast, they would fight to the death, unlike other Greek hoplites. Hoplites also relied on speed in charge of battle.

A hoplite in formation was protected by the right half of his own shield (carried on his left arm) and the left half of the shield of the man on his right. Therefore, the man on the far right of the phalanx was only half protected. In battle, opposing phalanges would exploit this weakness by heading for their enemy's right flank. The formation of the hoplite was called the phalanx. The strongest soldiers were at the right. There were files in a phalanx, and the leader was on the right of each file. There would be a veteran instructor at the rear keeping order. Before the 8th century soldiers fought 'free for all', and the battle was based on heroism. The key of the battle was to bash them with the hoplite's hoplon and stab the opposing enemy in the face and upper body. The main weakness of the early tactics was the limited use of combined arms, with missile troops, skirmishers and archers sparsely used. The Helots from Sparta would usually accompany the Spartans in battles and provide ranged support. The Helots also set camps and did labour for the Spartans. Formations and tactics varied through time and city.

One of the early problems with the hoplite formation was the inability to march straight when entering combat. This was caused by the natural tendency of the soldiers to press themselves as close to their neighbor (and thus his shield) as possible in order to be maximally protected. This was countered by Epaminondas of Thebes in the early 4th century BC. His innovation was to train his hoplites to march in a diagonal, so that when the formation entered combat, the diagonal march and the leaning tendency cancelled out so they did not veer off course. Before this time, only the Spartans had successfully maintained (almost) straight formations, and only due to years of training and intense discipline.

Rise and fall

The rise and fall of hoplite warfare was intimately connected to the rise and fall of the city-state. During the Persian Wars, hoplites were often forced to run towards archers in order to engage them in a melee where they would have the upper-hand, and during the Peloponnesian War light, projectile-armed troops such as peltasts became increasingly dominant. As a result, they began wearing less armour, carrying shorter swords, and in general adapting for greater mobility; this led to the development of the ekdromoi light hoplite. However, hoplite warfare was in decline; there were three major battles in the Peloponnesian War, and none proved decisive. Instead there was increased reliance on navies, skirmishers, mercenaries, city walls, siege engines, and non-set piece tactics. These reforms made wars of attrition possible and greatly increased the casualties of battle. Many of them were combined by the brilliant general Epaminondas, whose tactics formed the basis for the Macedonian phalanx of Philip II of Macedon, used as a back-up to his cavalry. These forces defeated the last major hoplite army, at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), after which Athens and its allies joined the Hellenistic empire. These developments led to the rise of the more versatile combined arms tactics of the Ancient Macedonians.

Legacy

Hoplite-style warfare was also practiced around the Mediterranean basin. Of particular note, the Etruscans usually fought with such militias, a practice they adopted from the Greek colonies. From this sort of warfare developed the Roman legion that was to dominate western military history for hundreds of years.

In popular culture

Hoplite warfare has been portrayed in recent films including Troy, Alexander and 300.

Some real-time strategy games, such as Rise of Nations, Rome: Total War, Spartan Total Warrior, Civilization (series), Ancient Wars: Sparta, Age of Empires and Age of Mythology, feature infantry units called 'Hoplites' or Phalanx.

The God of War series features a main character, Kratos, who is portrayed as a Spartan warrior.

The science fiction novel the Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson involves an army of modern-day hoplites.

The historical novel 'Gates of Fire' describes the practices and training of the Spartans from the point of view of a survivor of Thermopylae to the Persian King, Xerxes.

There is a character called The Fabulous Hoplite in Colin McInnes's novel Absolute Beginners, portrayed by Joe McKenna in the 1986 film of the same name.

References

^ Socrates as a hoplite: Plato, Symposium, Apollodorus, 219e-221b
^ Epicurus as a hoplite: Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book X