The Myth of the \'Middle Class\' Hoplite

[SigniferOne]

As came out in my discussions with Paul(lus Scipio), I don't share the view that all hoplites were of the upper, leisurly, stratum, and I'm not sure where the association between the two came about from. If in fact those were the primary hoplite enlistents, we would have to associate hoplites with the aristocratic class rather than something lower. In my view it would be far more correct to equate hoplites with the free-holding farmers. Yes they could afford to buy their own armor, but it's not like they decked it out in gold and ornaments. Scavenging the battlefield for expensive armaments of other dead soldiers was not an uncommon occurrence. Thus such farmers would, with difficulty, equip themselves with this heavy armor, but it isn't as if they'd have leisure to go to military schools or something, or engage in philosophical talks with Plato in the gardens of Academus. On the contrary these men had little to do with Plato. Again, their best representative is Aristophanes, describing the Marathon-warriors -- not unlike the WW2 veterans whom we all know, grizzled and tough, as opposed to universally college-educated and professorate.