The Greek Hoplite
While no single fighting force has ever remained undefeated, history is filled with many famous, feared soldier units such as the Roman legionary. These ancient warriors filled their enemy with fear and constituted the might of their civilization’s military at the height of its power. In this article, we will be looking at ancient Greek soldiers known as Hoplites.
History
The Greek Hoplite is one of the earliest and most recognized soldier classes. The word Hoplite itself translates roughly as “armored man” or “armored infantry”, which perfectly describes the Hoplite’s armor and shield. Although there is no clear date for when Hoplite warfare first appeared, the main theory historians support puts this around the 8th to 7th century BC.
This period of time in Greece’s history coincided with the emergence of independent city-states, cities which had their own government and culture, and extended their influence into the surrounding areas. As more and more city-states rose up and gained power, competition and rivalry rose up between them, leading to war. This forced the Greeks to focus on military innovation, which yielded the Hoplite as a result.
Although the Hoplite was originally designed for the purpose of these inter-state wars — the most famous being the rivalry between Athens and Sparta — the Hoplites also proved themselves worthy when Persia came knocking on the door. Although vastly outnumbered, the Greek city-states were able to fight off the Persian invaders by allying together and employing the Hoplite phalanx versus the Persians’ poorly trained and organized army.
Hoplites themselves were citizens of the various Greek city-states. Since all Hoplites had to buy and upkeep their own equipment, they were usually from the middle or upper classes. While they did have military training, Hoplites lived civilian lives until called to duty. This is important because the wars and battles between rivaling states had to be relatively short, so that the men could go back to working the land as farmers. This separated the Hoplites from a truly professional army. The only state in Greece which had ongoing military training and service even in peacetime was Sparta.
Strategy
Hoplites are perhaps most famous for their battle formation — the phalanx — which influenced ancient warfare in a major way. Although the phalanx may have been used beforehand by other civilizations, it truly gained importance and recognition from the Greeks.
The phalanx was a rectangular battle formation where the Hoplites in the front lines used their shields to create a nearly impenetrable wall, with spears being projected out in front.
Each man’s circular shield, the “hoplon”, would be worn on the left arm and protect his left side, and the right side of the man next to him. This made the phalanx nearly unstoppable when engaged from the front — enemies were met with a line of spears and shield, making direct, head-on attacks very difficult, while the threat of archers could be mitigated by shields and armor.
The phalanx itself was typically 8 ranks deep, meaning there were 8 lines of men marching in the rectangular shape, stretching out for roughly 300 meters or more. The three lines in the front projected their spears forward, while the ranks behind them elevated their spears upwards, creating a protective line of spikes that imitated a hedgehog. This helped reduce the damage of missile attacks, such as arrows and javelins.
Since the men behind the first few lines couldn’t really do much fighting as their spears couldn’t reach far enough to strike the enemy, their job was mainly to push the men in the front to continue marching onto the enemy. If men in the front lines died, they were replaced by Hoplites behind them. This was especially crucial in the phalanx on phalanx battles between Greek city-states.
Hoplite Weaknesses
Although the phalanx was highly effective, it was not without weaknesses. The major weakness of the phalanx is that it had little to no protection on the sides and rear. Since men were marching forward and everyone’s spears were pointed in the same forward direction, Hoplites were pretty much defenseless on their flanks and rear. The phalanx had to face every threat as one; if men acted alone the strength of the phalanx was gone.This made small, mobile infantry groups and cavalry very effective at defeating the phalanx, as they could effectively strike from the back or the sides.
Another weakness of the phalanx was that it required open terrain with even ground. Otherwise, the armored wall of the phalanx would break up and leave too many openings for the enemy to take advantage of.
Training
The strength of the Hoplite lay in his discipline and training. The only way a phalanx could work is if all the men were trained to march and work together, and never abandon their position out of fear.
For example, If someone in the front line abandoned their post, this would create an opening that made both direct and ranged attacks much more effective. Similarly, if men in the front lines were dying and not being replaced effectively by the men behind them, the whole phalanx could easily collapse.
Equipment
The two main pieces of equipment for a Hoplite were the spear and the shield. The spear, up to 3 meters long, could be carried with one arm and thrust forward underhand or overhand.
The circular, concave shield was always worn on the left arm, and its size allowed each soldier to protect his left side and the right side of the manto his immediate left. Each Hoplite also wore a short sword, the purpose of which was to finish off wounded and fleeing opponents after the battle had already been decided.
The armor of hoplites was made out of bronze plate, and included a breastplate, greaves, and helmet. Under the breastplate, each soldier wore a tunic. All in all, the gear was quite heavy, and most soldiers did not actually put it on until they had to march.
Legacy
The direct legacy of the Greek Hoplite was the defeat of the Persians, which prevented the Persian Empire from pushing into Europe. Historically, the Hoplite’s significance lies in the fact that it was so successful that many civilizations surrounding Greece adopted their style.
Most notably, the Macedonians and the Romans copied the Hoplite and the phalanx strategy and improved on it. The Macedonians doubled the length of the Hoplite’s spear to allow them to be even more effective, while the Romans eventually turned the phalanx into the fearsome legion. Although the final result was quite different from the Hoplite phalanx, the Roman legions still kept the same principles — marching in rectangular groups, using shields for protection, and working together as a unit.
In this sense, the Greek Hoplite greatly influenced the development of warfare in ancient Europe and indirectly led to the military successes of both the Macedonians and the Romans.
