Download Hoplites: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Greek Soldiers Who Revolutionized Infantry Warfare AudioBook Free
But the armies of the ancient greek language, or "Hellenic", city-states (poleis, singular polis) included both cavalry (hippeis) and light infantry (psiloi, peltastes, gymnetes), their mainstay was unquestionably the heavy infantry known today as hoplites. Equipped to the teeth with the distinctive round shield (aspis or hoplon), high-crested helmet (corys) and long spear (dory), the hoplites were some of the most efficient soldiers of their own time. They fought in the small phalanx creation, and beyond the confines of their small poleis, Greek hoplites were also prized as mercenaries throughout the early world. Most historians believe the hoplite became the dominant infantry soldier in nearly all the Greek city-states about the eighth century BCE. Hoplites were accountable for acquiring their own equipment, so don't assume all hoplite may have been equally equipped, but taking into consideration the style of warfare, they needed just as much uniformity as is possible. Like most infantry outside of Greece, the hoplites also taken spears, but while the Persian weapons were short and light for example, the Greek spears were solid shafts ranging from seven and nine foot long. These spears were topped by way of a nine-inch spearhead, with a "lizard-sticker" buttspike at the bottom which could be used as a second spearhead if the main tool was snapped off, or even to grow the spear upright when at slumber. Each hoplite also taken a shortsword, designed designed for thrusting in the close confines of any melee (the Spartan tool, the xiphos, was so short as to be virtually a dagger, its knife barely over a foot long).
