- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Part I A Credo
- Chapter 1 Archaeology
- Chapter 2 Greek Archaeology and Greek History
- Chapter 3 The New Archaeology and the Classical Archaeologist
- Chapter 4 A Paradigm Shift in Classical Archaeology?
- Chapter 5 Separate Tables? A Story of Two Traditions within One Discipline
- Part II The Early Iron Age in Greece
- Chapter 6 Metalwork as Evidence for Immigration in the Late Bronze Age
- Chapter 7 The Coming of the Iron Age in Greece: Europe's Earliest Bronze / Iron Transition
- Chapter 8 The Euboeans in Macedonia: A New Precedent for Westward Expansion?
- Chapter 9 The Rejection of Mycenaean Culture and the Oriental Connection
- Chapter 10 An Historical Homeric Society?
- Part III The Early Polis at Home and Abroad
- Chapter 11 Archaeology and the Rise of the Greek State
- Chapter 12 Heavy Freight in Archaic Greece
- Chapter 13 Interaction by Design: The Greek City State
- Chapter 14 The Economics of Dedication at Greek Sanctuaries
- Chapter 15 Archaeology and the Study of the Greek City
- Chapter 16 The Nature and Standing of the Early Western Colonies
- Part IV The Early Polis at War
- Chapter 17 The Hoplite Reform and History
- Chapter 18 The Historical Significance of Fortification in Archaic Greece
- Chapter 19 The ‘Hoplite Reform’ Revisited
- Part V Early Greek Art
- Chapter 20 Poet and Painter in Eighth-century Greece
- Chapter 21 Narration and Allusion in Archaic Greek Art
- Chapter 22 The Uses of Writing on Early Greek Painted Pottery
- Chapter 23 Pausanias and the Chest of Kypselos
- Part VI Archaeological Survey
- Chapter 24 Survey Archaeology and the Rural Landscape of the Greek City
- Chapter 25 Rural Burial in the World of Cities
- Index
The ‘Hoplite Reform’ Revisited
The ‘Hoplite Reform’ Revisited
- Chapter:
- (p.344) Chapter 19 The ‘Hoplite Reform’ Revisited
- Source:
- Archaeology and the Emergence of Greece
- Author(s):
Anthony Snodgrass
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
In classical Athens, someone in each community would be charged with the duty of mustering a given number of hoplites from their district. In his analysis of the Homeric battle scenes, Joachim Latacz cites the Homeric poems. His thesis won important support from historians and archaeologists: the implication was that any such episode as a ‘hoplite reform’, if indeed it had happened at all, did so at an earlier date than previously assumed, in time for its effects to permeate the text of the Iliad. This chapter argues that there is a substantial class of evidence, that of the actual surviving pieces of armour dedicated at Olympia and other sanctuaries, which is more robust than either new textual interpretations of Homer, or new readings of battle scenes in art. It argues that the systematic use of a pitched battle formation like the later phalanx, with tactics like those of the later synaspismos, has no part in hoplite warfare.
Keywords: Athens, hoplites, warfare, hoplite reform, phalanx, Homer, Iliad, Joachim Latacz, armour, Olympia
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Part I A Credo
- Chapter 1 Archaeology
- Chapter 2 Greek Archaeology and Greek History
- Chapter 3 The New Archaeology and the Classical Archaeologist
- Chapter 4 A Paradigm Shift in Classical Archaeology?
- Chapter 5 Separate Tables? A Story of Two Traditions within One Discipline
- Part II The Early Iron Age in Greece
- Chapter 6 Metalwork as Evidence for Immigration in the Late Bronze Age
- Chapter 7 The Coming of the Iron Age in Greece: Europe's Earliest Bronze / Iron Transition
- Chapter 8 The Euboeans in Macedonia: A New Precedent for Westward Expansion?
- Chapter 9 The Rejection of Mycenaean Culture and the Oriental Connection
- Chapter 10 An Historical Homeric Society?
- Part III The Early Polis at Home and Abroad
- Chapter 11 Archaeology and the Rise of the Greek State
- Chapter 12 Heavy Freight in Archaic Greece
- Chapter 13 Interaction by Design: The Greek City State
- Chapter 14 The Economics of Dedication at Greek Sanctuaries
- Chapter 15 Archaeology and the Study of the Greek City
- Chapter 16 The Nature and Standing of the Early Western Colonies
- Part IV The Early Polis at War
- Chapter 17 The Hoplite Reform and History
- Chapter 18 The Historical Significance of Fortification in Archaic Greece
- Chapter 19 The ‘Hoplite Reform’ Revisited
- Part V Early Greek Art
- Chapter 20 Poet and Painter in Eighth-century Greece
- Chapter 21 Narration and Allusion in Archaic Greek Art
- Chapter 22 The Uses of Writing on Early Greek Painted Pottery
- Chapter 23 Pausanias and the Chest of Kypselos
- Part VI Archaeological Survey
- Chapter 24 Survey Archaeology and the Rural Landscape of the Greek City
- Chapter 25 Rural Burial in the World of Cities
- Index
