Introduction

Greek warfare has long been understood to be ‘hoplite warfare’, focusing on the armoured spearmen who fought in the tight-knit phalanx formation. In introducing this volume, we trace the idea of the ‘hoplite’ and his essential ‘Greekness’ in popular media and modern scholarship, while also showing this understanding of the hoplite is distinct from that of the ancient world. We explore why, and how, this focus came about and how we aim to move beyond it in this volume

Ancient history · Linguistics · Optics · Phalanx · Political science · Scholarship · Classical Antiquity Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law · Philosophy