The Importance Of The Hoplites In Ancient Greece

The Greek army known as the hoplites was named after their shield, “Hoplon”. They wore armor that consists of a tunic, a helmet that protected their face, breastplate, and greaves to protect the lower legs. They carried round shields about a meter in diameter and spears as their main weapon and short curved swords. Their equipment and armor was exhausting to carry that slaves usually accompanied the soldiers to carry their equipment. Battles in Ancient Greece were close-quartered, combatant and brutal; the hoplites armor was made specifically for such battles.
Around 420 BC, the Greeks decided to use light armor and equipment to improve mobility in battle. These warriors were called light-armed peltast. The light-armed troops carried light-armed peltas (crescent shaped shields) and javelins. This new tactic of changing the armor challenged the dominance of the hoplites and played a significant role in battle. These warriors use tactics such as using their mobility to get close to the enemies and attacking the enemy with javelins, arrows and stones then

In earlier times Calvary weren’t of much use. The Calvary purpose in battle was similar to that of the light-armed troops but they were pretty useless. With the heavily armed equipment and armor, fighting close-quartered battles was not an option for the cavalrymen. They could have easily been defeated in battle. Therefore, they had no other option but to use the same hit and run tactics as the Peltasts but instead they would be on horseback not on foot. Calvary began to become more significant when King Philip created the Macedonian Calvary. He took notes on the tactic of fighting on horseback from the Thebans. King Philip developed new weapons, saris (a long 5 meter spear) and a slashing sword. He also developed new tactics such as charging the enemy in the battlefield with a narrow