The Greek Hoplite

While no single fighting force has ever remained undefeated, human history is filled with many famous, powerful, and feared soldier units, like the Greek Hoplite or the Ottoman Janissary. These ancient soldiers filled their enemy with fear and constituted the might of their nation’s army at the height of its power. The purpose of this Hub (and many more to come, hopefully) will be to explore the most interesting and important of these fighting units in detail.

Although most of these will be concentrated in and around Europe, as it was the most volatile area of the world throughout human history, we will also be taking a look at other continents. While Aztec Eagle Warriors may not be as well-known as the Roman Legionnaire, they are still very interesting to learn about. For this Hub in particular, we will be looking at the Greek Hoplite.

Part 2 - Roman Legionnaire

Part 3 - Japanese Samurai

Part 4 - The Swiss Pikeman

The Greek Hoplite is one of the most famous, influential, and earliest soldier classes. The world 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 8^th to 7^th 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 surrounding areas. As more and more city-states rose up and gained power, competition and rivalry rose up between them, leading to war. This essentially forced the Greeks to focus on military innovation, which in turn yielded the Hoplite soldier unit 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 incredibly worthy when the Persians 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 much more effective Greek 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 of the middle or upper class of society. While they did have military training, Hoplite soldiers lived normal lives until called to duty. This was an important fact to note; since most men made a living off the land, the wars and battles between rivaling states had to be relatively short, so that they could get back to working the land for food. This separated the Hoplites from a truly professional army. The only state in Greece which had ongoing military training and service even in peace time was Sparta.

Hoplites are perhaps most famous for their battle formation, the phalanx, which influenced ancient warfare in a huge 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 would use 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 a man’s 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 and even attacks from long range by 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 or so lines in the front were the ones that actually projected their spears out as far as possible forward, while the ranks behind them elevated their spears upwards slowly, in such a way that would create a protective line of spikes, imitating a hedgehog. The reason for this was to reduce the damage of missile attacks, like 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.

The last thing to note about the phalanx is its weaknesses. The major weakness of the phalanx is that it had little to no protection on its 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 the 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 flank or the rear.

Another weakness of the phalanx was that it required a very specific type of landscape to operate on. Phalanxes could only fight in large, open areas 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.

The strength of the Hoplite and the phalanx lay in 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. If someone in the front line, for example, abandoned their post, this would create a hole in the armored wall in the front of the phalanx, which would make 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.

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 either underhand, or overhand, when deployed in a phalanx. 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 soldiers to his immediate left. Each Hoplite also wore a short sword. The purpose of this sword was usually to finish off wounded and fleeing opponents after the battle has already been decided.

The armor of hoplites was made out of bronze plate, and had a golden appearance to it. There was the breastplate, fashioned after a man with a muscled torso, greaves to protect the legs, and a helmet. Under the breastplate, each soldier wore a red tunic. All in all, the gear was quite heavy, and most soldiers did not actually put it on until they had to march.

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.

The Macedonians and the Romans, most notably, copied the Hoplite and the phalanx strategy and improved on it. The Macedonians themselves quite literally 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 as one complete unit to push the enemy. In this sense, the Greek Hoplite soldiers influenced the development of warfare in ancient Europe, and indirectly led to the military successes of both the Macedonians and the Romans.