Anagnostis Agelarakis based on recent archaeo-anthropological discoveries of the earliest monumental polyandrion (communal burial of male warriors) at Paros Island in Greece, unveils a last quarter of the 8th century BC date for a hoplitic phalangeal military organization. Peter Krentz argues that "the ideology of hoplitic warfare as a ritualized contest developed not in the 7th century, but only after 480, when non-hoplite arms began to be excluded from the phalanx". The exact time when hoplitic warfare was developed is uncertain, the prevalent theory being that it was established sometime during the 8th or 7th century BC, when the "heroic age was abandoned and a far more disciplined system introduced" and the Argive shield became popular. The Lacedaemonian citizens (Sparta) were renowned for their lifelong combat training and almost mythical military prowess, while their greatest adversaries, the Athenians, were exempted from service only after the 60th year of their lives.
They were expected to take part in any military campaign when they would be called for duty. In most Greek city-states, citizens received at least basic military training, serving in the standing army for a certain amount of time. In later texts, the term hoplite is used to denote any armoured infantry, regardless of armament or ethnicity.Ī hoplite was primarily a free citizen who was usually individually responsible for procuring his armour and weapon.
Hoplite shield wall full#
ὁπλίται hoplitai) derives from " hoplon" ( ὅπλον, plural hopla ὅπλα), the type of the shield used by the soldiers, although, as a word, "hopla" could also denote weapons held or even full armament. The word " hoplite" ( Greek: ὁπλίτης hoplitēs pl. Hoplites were primarily armed as spearmen and fought in a phalanx formation.
Hoplites shown in two attack positions, with both an overhand and underhand thrustĪ hoplite was a citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek city-states.
0 kommentar(er)
