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5 - Military forces

from Part I - Archaic and Classical Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Peter Hunt
Affiliation:
Professor of Classics, University of Colorado
Philip Sabin
Affiliation:
King's College London
Hans van Wees
Affiliation:
University College London
Michael Whitby
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
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Summary

introduction

In a passage extolling the virtues of order the fourth-century historian and former general Xenophon waxes eloquent on the beauty of a well-organized army.

An orderly army elates its watching supporters, but strikes gloom into its enemies. I mean, who – if he is on the same side – could fail to be delighted at the sight of massed hoplites marching in formation, or to admire cavalry riding in ranks? And who – if he is on the other side – could fail to be terrified at the sight of hoplites, cavalry, peltasts, archers, slingers all arranged and following their commanders in a disciplined way?

As we can see from Xenophon’s list, hoplites were the most conspicuous and usually the most important Greek troops, followed by the four other major types of land troops in descending order of status: cavalry, peltasts (light-armed spearmen), archers and slingers. Most scholars argue that the basic trend in military forces from the early archaic period through the classical period was the establishment and then the decline of hoplite primacy. According to this model, hoplite supremacy was established in the early seventh century. All cities that wanted to win land battles had to man large hoplite armies and fight it out on the small agricultural plains of Greece. Light-armed troops and cavalry were of minimal significance. The late fifth and the fourth centuries saw the dominance of hoplites challenged as their vulnerabilities and the advantages of mixed armies became obvious. It is for this reason that Victor Hanson entitled a chapter on fourth-century warfare, ‘Hoplites as dinosaurs’.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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  • Military forces
    • By Peter Hunt, Professor of Classics, University of Colorado
  • Edited by Philip Sabin, King's College London, Hans van Wees, University College London, Michael Whitby, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521782739.006
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  • Military forces
    • By Peter Hunt, Professor of Classics, University of Colorado
  • Edited by Philip Sabin, King's College London, Hans van Wees, University College London, Michael Whitby, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521782739.006
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Military forces
    • By Peter Hunt, Professor of Classics, University of Colorado
  • Edited by Philip Sabin, King's College London, Hans van Wees, University College London, Michael Whitby, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521782739.006
Available formats
×