Hoplites

Abstract

Hoplites PETER KRENTZHoplites were heavily armed Greek infantrymen named after their equipment (hopla: Lazenby and Whitehead 1996). A full set of equipment included a BRONZE helmet, bronze plate cuirass or leather-and-LINEN corslet, bronze shin-guards, a roughly circular wooden shield averaging 90 cm in diameter (sometimes covered with a thin bronze facing), a wooden spear with an iron point and butt spike, and an iron sword as a backup weapon. Scholars have often overestimated the weight of this equipment, which weighed 14 to 23 kg rather than 23 to 32 kg or more. Because each hoplite