{"id":69744,"date":"2023-04-21T01:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=69744"},"modified":"2023-09-20T10:52:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T14:52:25","slug":"qotd-in-ancient-greek-armies-soldiers-were-classified-by-the-shields-they-carried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2023\/04\/21\/qotd-in-ancient-greek-armies-soldiers-were-classified-by-the-shields-they-carried\/","title":{"rendered":"QotD: In ancient Greek armies, soldiers were classified by the shields they carried"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/QotD-thumbnail-400x400.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right; padding: 0px 0px 10px 25px\" src=\"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/QotD-thumbnail-400x400.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-48672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/QotD-thumbnail-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/QotD-thumbnail-400x400-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/QotD-thumbnail-400x400-50x50.png 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a>Plutarch reports this Spartan saying (trans. Bernadotte Perrin):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<p><em>When someone asked why they visited disgrace upon those among them who lost their shields, but did not do the same thing to those who lost their helmets or their breastplates, he said, &#8220;Because these they put on for their own sake, but the shield for the common good of the whole line.&#8221; (Plut. <strong>Mor<\/strong>. 220A)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This relates to how <em><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-i0D#Hoplite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hoplites<\/a><\/em> generally \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/acoup.blog\/2019\/09\/20\/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-vi-spartan-battle\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">not merely Spartans<\/a> \u2013 fought in the phalanx. Plutarch, writing at a distance (long after <em>hoplite<\/em> warfare had stopped being a regular reality of Greek life), seems unaware that he is representing as distinctly Spartan something that was common to most Greek <em><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-i0D#Polis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poleis<\/a><\/em> (indeed, harsh punishments for tossing aside a shield in battle seemed to have existed in every Greek <em>polis<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>When pulled into a tight formation, each <em>hoplite<\/em>&#8216;s shield overlapped, protecting not only his own body, but also blocking off the potentially vulnerable right-hand side of the man to his left. A <em>hoplite<\/em>&#8216;s armor protected only himself. That&#8217;s not to say it wasn&#8217;t important! <em>Hoplites<\/em> wore quite heavy armor for the time-period; the typical late-fifth\/fourth century kit included a bronze helmet and the <em>linothorax<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Reconstructing-Ancient-Linen-Body-Armor\/dp\/1421408198\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a laminated, layered textile defense that was relatively inexpensive, but fairly heavy and quite robust<\/a>. Wealthier <em>hoplites<\/em> might enhance this defense by substituting a bronze breastplate for the <em>linothorax<\/em>, or by adding bronze greaves (essentially a shin-and-lower-leg-guard); ankle and arm protections were rarer, but not unknown.<\/p>\n<p>But the <em>shield<\/em> \u2013 without the <em>shield<\/em> one could not be a <em>hoplite<\/em>.<strong> The Greeks generally classified soldiers by the shield they carried, in fact<\/strong>. Light troops were called <em>peltasts<\/em> because they carried the <em>pelta<\/em> \u2013 a smaller, circular shield with a cutout that was much lighter and cheaper. Later medium-infantry were <em>thureophoroi<\/em> because they carried the <em>thureos<\/em>, a shield design copied from the Gauls. But the highest-status infantrymen were the <em>hoplites<\/em>, called such because the singular <em>hoplon<\/em> (\u1f45\u03c0\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd) could be used to mean the <em>aspis<\/em> (while the plural <em>hopla<\/em> (\u1f41\u03c0\u03bb\u03ac) meant all of the <em>hoplite<\/em>&#8216;s equipment, a complete set).<\/p>\n<p>(Sidenote: this doesn&#8217;t stop in the Hellenistic period. In addition to the <em>thureophoroi<\/em>, who are a Hellenistic troop-type, we also have Macedonian soldiers classified as <em>chalkaspides<\/em> (&#8220;bronze-shields&#8221; \u2013 they seem to be the standard <em>sarissa<\/em> pike-infantry) or <em>argyraspides<\/em> (&#8220;silver-shields&#8221;, an elite guard derived from Alexander&#8217;s <em>hypaspides<\/em>, which again note \u2013 means &#8220;<em>aspis<\/em>-bearers&#8221;!), <em>chrysaspides<\/em> (&#8220;gold-shields&#8221;, a little-known elite unit in the Seleucid army c. 166) and the poorly understood <em>leukaspides<\/em> (&#8220;white-shields&#8221;) of the Antigonid army. All of the &#8211;<em>aspides<\/em> seem to have carried the Macedonian-style <em>aspis<\/em> with the extra satchel-style neck-strap, the <em>ochane<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>(Second aside: it is also possible to <em>overstate<\/em> the degree to which the <em>aspis<\/em> was tied to the <em>hoplite<\/em>&#8216;s formation. I remain convinced, given the shape and weight of the shield, that it was <strong><em>designed<\/em><\/strong> for the phalanx, but like many pieces of military equipment, the <em>aspis<\/em> was versatile. It was far from an <em>ideal<\/em> shield for solo combat, but it would serve fairly well, and we know it was used that way some of the time.)<\/p>\n<p>Bret Devereaux, <a href=\"https:\/\/acoup.blog\/2020\/03\/17\/new-acquisitions-hoplite-style-disease-control-march-17-2020\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;New Acquisitions: <em>Hoplite<\/em>-Style Disease Control&#8221;, <em>A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry<\/em><\/a>, 2020-03-17.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plutarch reports this Spartan saying (trans. Bernadotte Perrin): When someone asked why they visited disgrace upon those among them who lost their shields, but did not do the same thing to those who lost their helmets or their breastplates, he said, &#8220;Because these they put on for their own sake, but the shield for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1526,7,5,41,663],"tags":[1527,1379,1457,1103,1203],"class_list":["post-69744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-greece","category-history","category-military","category-quotations","category-weapons","tag-ancientgreece","tag-armour","tag-bretdevereaux","tag-infantry","tag-macedonia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-i8U","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69744"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81590,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69744\/revisions\/81590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}