01-02-2007, 10:42 AM
Quote:So then, hoplon, spear, tunic, armor, helmet, and a sword?
The period I'm most interested in is the time around the Peloponessian wars. The question then is what the armor was made of? I assume bronze for the wealthy, but does that go for weapons too?
Definitely not. Iron weapons had already been in use for a considerable time (four centuries or so, I think). Body armour was in favour at the beginning of the conflict, but lost ground as it progressed. The Battle of Sphacteria, in which Spartan hoplites surrendered to light-armed troops, may have been a key moment in this process, although there have been suggestions that the Spartans were not as heavily-armed and armoured as their classification suggests and that this was partly the cause of their defeat; they didn't get enough protection from missile weapons. In any case, you could get away without body armour as a Spartan soldier of the late Peloponnesian Wars. In the earlier period, bronze muscle cuirasses are likely for the wealthiest/most important warriors, but linothorakes are likely to have been the predominant form, precisely because the move to wearing less or lighter armour had already begun, with them. The Pilos helmet, too, seems to be a manifestation of this process.
