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In this episode we go over countless theories concerning hoplite combat, coming from scholars, reenactors, and enthusiasts. All of these grew rapidly in popularity across the last century, but most are either outdated, unlikely, or incorrect. Join us as we dive into each one, and use experiments, studies, and logic to reconstruct ancient warfare in one of the most popular historic periods: Archaic Greece! How did Greeks fight? | Modeling Greek Combat and Tactics


Primary sources:
Tyrtaeus, Stobaeus Anthology [on war]. Elegy and Iambus, Volume I, volume 1, Tyrtaeus, The Elegiac Poems of Tyrtaeus (tufts.edu).

Secondary sources:
-Bardunias, P. “The Mechanics of Hoplite Battle: storm of spears and press of shields” in Ancient Warfare Magazine, 2011. 60-69.
-Bardunias, P. “The Greek phalanx in context: shifting shield wall” in Ancient Warfare Magazine 11.6. 36-42.
-Browuers, J. Henchmen of Ares: warriors and warfare in Early Greece. Zutphen: Karwansaray Publishers. 2013.
-Hanson, V. D. Epameinondas, the Battle of Leuktra (371 B.C.), and the "Revolution" in Greek Battle Tactics in Classical Antiquity , Oct., 1988, Vol. 7, No. 2. 190-207.
-V. D. Hanson (ed.), Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience. New York 1991.
-Hanson, V.D. The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. New York, 1989.
-Matthew, C. A. When Push Comes to Shove: What was the Othismos of Hoplite Combat? in Historia 58, 2009, 395 - 415.
-Matthew, C. A. A Storm of Spears: Understanding the Greek Hoplite at War, Barnsley. 2012.
-Konijnendik, R. & Bardunias, P. “The face of battle at Plataiai” in The Battle of Plataiai 479 BC, Konecny, A. & Sekunda, N. (eds.), Vienna: Phoibos Verlag, 2022. 211-242.
-Krentz, P. “Hoplite Hell: How Hoplites Fought.” In Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece, Kagan & Viggiano G F. (eds.), Princeton: University Press, 2013. 134–56.
-Van Wees, H. The Development of the Hoplite Phalanx: Iconography and Reality in the Seventh Century, in H. van Wees (ed.), War and Violence in Ancient Greece, London, 2000. 125 - 166.
-Van Wees, H. The Homeric way of War: The Iliad and the Hoplite Phalanx (I) in Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser. Vol. 41, No.1, 1-18.
-Van Wees, H. The Homeric way of War: The Iliad and the Hoplite Phalanx (II) in Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser. Vol. 41, No.2, 131-155.



Greek Hoplites (0:00)
The Time Period (0:47)
"Othismos" (1:24)
Weight of Equipment (2:38)
Spacing within a Phalanx (3:53)
Pre-battle (8:17)
Charge (9:53)
Overhand vs Underhand (10:25)
The battle (10:51)
Combat model (14:56)