The Armies of Greece

The armies of the Ancient greeks consisted of a mostly land based force, their warriors were their walls and this meant that Greek Hoplites had to be strong, courageous and willing to die for honour and Greece when fending of the Persian invaders.

Fighting in Formation
The greek armies of Hoplites were considered the "prime warriors" of their time, (7) each Hoplite wielded a 8-10 foot spear and a shield about 30" in diameter. They would fight in rows a minimum of 18 Soilders long and 8 Hoplites deep.only the front three rows could fight the enemy, using and under arm grip on their spear. The next three rows supported the push and prevented the first three rows from retreating. The last two rows were the "executioners" of the group and would finish off downed soilders whom were not killed by the front three rows.This formation was called the Phalanx and was used to create a wall of spears an shields that moved only forwards and aimed to keep moving until the enemies demise. The Phalanx was used for every land battle in Greece and was a feared by both enemies and Allies of Greece.

Bronze, Brawn and Brutality
(6) The Ancient Greeks believed greatly in Courageousness and Honour stories of Great heroes from Greece like Hercules and Achilles supported these beliefs and emphasises these "warriors codes". (7) Hoplites wore Bronze armour and helmets (if they could afford it) and fought in close, hand to hand combat. Archers and Calvary were not often used in battle as it was believed that this was a "cowardly" form of fighting and involved no sense of Honour. Archers were rarely used in battles and were often only seen used in sieges or large scale battles. Calvary was also a rarity but mostly because of their im-practicality on the rugged terrain of Greece.

Naval Combat
The Ainchent Greek navy was customised for conflict between each city state of Greece, crews consisted of about 200 men, all of which were oarsmen used to row the boat. (6) Greek warships (such as the Trireme) had a large deck space and had only one weapon, a steel ram which was located at the front of the boat. This "Ram" was used to smash into other enemy warships after which the crew of oarsmen would convert into an army of 200 hoplites who would use the ships large deck space as a battle ground. This customised form of naval combat was effective against other greeks and was often used in battles between Athens and Sparta however challenges were faced when fighting other armies of which lighter, faster ships were used and ramming wasn't their only weapon bows,basilisks and spears proved to be far more useful and gave the enemy the upper hand. (7) Extensively the greek warships were unable to travel far from home as food storage and sleeping quarters were not a part of the Trireme. Despite this the greeks devised several tactics to overcome such problems. A common tactic used by the greeks was to defend and not attack by aligning the ships as a blockade using them to form a wall of "Rams" (a theory similar to the greek Phalanx).