Ancient Greek Army: Units, Organization, Supply Lines | Early European History And Religion

ATHENIAN ARMY

Macedonia phalanx under Alexander the Great counter-attacks during the Battle of the Carts

In Athens all citizens were bound to military service till their sixtieth year, but this obligation was not so general as at Sparta. According to the constitution of Solon, it was only the citizens of the three highest classes who were bound to military service; the “Thetes,” who formed the fourth class, were exempt, and only in exceptional cases, such as occurred in later times, during long and serious wars, they were levied as light-armed troops, or more often as sailors for the fleet.[Source “The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks” by Hugo Blümner, translated by Alice Zimmern, 1895]

After the Revolution of Cleisthenes, when Attica was divided into ten tribes, this political division was also maintained for the levy; the register of citizens was made the basis of a roll of the men in each tribe and deme who were liable to military service, and on each separate occasion the decree of the people decided what ages were to be levied. It was the rule, however, that the first two ages, from the eighteenth to the twentieth year, i.e., the ephebi, should not be called for service in the field, but only in the country as riding patrol, and it was not till their twentieth year that citizens were required to serve outside the country. The members of the council, as well as the higher officials, were exempt from military service during their period of office.

The Athenian army was divided into ten divisions according to the number of tribes; these, again, were divided into companies and further subdivisions, whose strength varied according to the size of the levy and the conditions of the country. The resident foreigners, who were also bound to military service, served in the fleet, and also in the land army among the infantry, but never in the cavalry; they were chiefly used to garrison fortified places and defend cities. The cavalry were far more important at Athens than at Sparta. Every tribe supplied a hundred horsemen, and altogether these formed two divisions of five hundred men, commanded by the Hipparchs.

As the State did not provide the horses, but expected the soldiers to procure and feed their own, this service was a very expensive one, and consequently was only undertaken by the first two classes. These cavalry regiments, which were the pride of the Athenian citizens, were exercised in time of peace also, and from time to time inspected by the Council of Five Hundred; we have already mentioned that the cavalry played an important part at the Panathenaic procession. In ancient times the army was commanded in time of war by the king, and afterwards by the archon as long as there was only one; when there were nine archons this duty fell to one of them, called the Polemarch.

Ancient Greek Military Units

The foot-soldier wearing helmet, cuirass, and greaves, and armed with sword, spear, and shield, that is, the familiar hoplite and legionary, formed the most important part of the Greek and Roman armies. Cavalry and light-armed infantry, however, who used the javelin, the bow, or the sling, became gradually more prominent as their importance was perceived in the wars with Eastern peoples and barbarous tribes. The use of the bow and the sling was taught in the palaistra at Athens, as a practical training for warfare, but ability in this direction was not rated very highly. Certain nations were especially skillful with these weapons and served as mercenaries to other states; both Xenophon and Caesar mention the Cretan archers, and Caesar speaks of slingers from the Balearic Isles who served under him in Gaul. The arrow-heads exhibited are Cypriote, but No. 4786 is Hellenic in type. [Source: “The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans”, Helen McClees Ph.D, Gilliss Press, 1924]

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The hippeis ("horsemen"), earned enough from their land to maintain a horse and so fought as cavalry; the zeugitai, were able to afford the equipment of a hoplite; the wealthiest class, the pentakosiomedimnoi ("five-hundred-bushel men"), supplied the leaders for the armed forces; and the poorest class, the thetes, were hired laborers who served as oarsmen in the Athenian fleet, or as archers and light-armed men on land.

“Backed up by archers and light-armed troops, the hoplite phalanx remained the most important fighting unit for centuries. They advanced in close formation while protected by their overlapping shields. A successful battle often consisted of one phalanx, hundreds of men across and eight or more warriors deep, pushing against an enemy's phalanx until one or the other broke formation, exposing its hoplites to danger and death. \^/

Archeologist can sometimes determine the military specialities of soldiers by their remains. Archers tend to develop asymmetrical bone growths on their right shoulder joints and left elbows. Hoplites (armed spearmen) carried large round shields that weighed up to 14 pounds on their left arms. Such burden sometimes leave skeletal traces. The remains of soldiers also often supply evidence of severe traumas that killed them such as sword cuts and arrow strikes. Graves in Himera Sicily have revealed soldiers buried with iron spear heads lodged in their bodies. Arrowheads often provide evidence that allows archeologist to determine where the soldiers originated.

Hoplites

Athenian hoplite

Heavily armed foot soldier in ancient Greece known as hoplites filled the ranks of the Greek armies. Patricia S. Daniels wrote in National Geographic: Named for the round, three-foot-wide, bronze-covered wood shield they carried, the hoplon, these men were drawn from the propertied classes — citizens who could afford the expensive accouterments of battle, which they were required to bring. Athenian hop-lites were occasional soldiers, pulled into service when required. Spartan hoplites, on the other hand, were expert warriors who had been rigorously trained from the age of seven.

When fully equipped, each soldier carried the hoplon on his left arm. In his right he held a bronze-tipped spear about seven feet long. A short iron sword served as backup. Helmet, breastplate, and greaves (shin guards), all of bronze, completed the armor, which could weigh 60 pounds. Hoplites fought shoulder to shoulder in a phalanx, tightly packed ranks, typically eight rows deep. [Source: Patricia S. Daniels, National Geographic, August 9, 2023]

The helmet was was often made of brass. The nine-foot spear was designed for thrusting. The short iron sword as a reserve weapon. The hoplite's complete armor and weaponry was called his panoply. Membership in the phalanx was confined to those male inhabitants of a city who could afford such relatively elaborate equipment. |::|

Hoplites played a significant role in crucial battles including the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Thermopylae, and the Peloponnesian War. Alexander the Great’s soldiers were hoplites. But as warfare evolved and more professional armies emerged, the traditional hoplite tactics gradually became less dominant on the battlefield. The families of Athenians who fell in battle would erect a memorial stone slab depicting a battle scene, called a stele. The soldier's ashes were buried in the state funerary ground just outside the city walls.

Hoplite Phalanx

Professor Daniel Moran wrote for the BBC: A seventh-century B.C. pottery jug from Corinth, in ancient Greece “provides the earliest known illustration of the hoplite phalanx, a dense formation of heavily armed infantry. This kind of formation became characteristic of the armies of the ancient Greek cities at about the time the jug was made. [Source: Professor Daniel Moran, BBC, February 17, 2011 |::|]

“Prior to the advent of the phalanx, ancient warfare featured individual combat between aristocratic champions on the one hand, and mass confrontations between loosely-organised mobs on the other. Compared to these immemorial methods, the advantages afforded by the phalanx were partly psychological. |::|

“Hoplites advanced shoulder-to-shoulder in tight columns that were normally eight rows deep, a formation that was both reassuring to its members and intimidating to those awaiting its approach. Such a mass could move at no more than a moderate walking pace - the illustration on the jug includes a piper, who helped the warriors keep in step - but even so an advancing phalanx could deliver a considerable shock, sufficient to shatter a less rigorously organised opponent. |::|

“Given that only the first one or two rows of hoplites could have hoped to employ their weapons, combat between opposing phalanxes must have amounted to highly ritualised, intensely lethal shoving matches, in which those in the front ranks were pushed forward by their comrades in the rear. |::|

“In such circumstances the skill and bravery of individuals would have counted for less than the discipline of the group. The phalanx was thus a natural military expression of the democratic ethos of the Greek cities. Its cohesion and strength were rooted in, and gave form to, the communal values and civic equality of its citizen-soldiers.” |::|

Ancient Greek Infantry

The most important part of the Greek army in the heroic age, both in the period of citizen armies and in that of mercenary troops, were the heavy-armed soldiers (ὁπλ ται). The weight which they had to carry, including offensive and defensive armour, amounted to about 70 lbs., but this considerable weight was only carried by a soldier in battle. On the march, part of the armour was carried in baggage-carts, or else the shield, or even the helmet, was given to a slave to carry . But as the inconvenience of the baggage-waggons was great, and the number of slaves — which had formerly been very considerable, so that among the Spartans there were sometimes seven helots to one Spartan — gradually diminished, we notice a tendency to decrease the weight of the soldier’s armour, first by substituting for the brazen cuirass a tunic of leather plated with brass and shoulder-pieces, and afterwards by using a small round shield for the large oval one. [Source “The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks” by Hugo Blümner, translated by Alice Zimmern, 1895]

In the time of the Persian wars the light infantry took the place of the slaves, who had formerly, in order that they might not be a useless addition to the army, been armed with javelins and stones. But as the skill required of the light-armed troops was not equally developed among all nationalities, it was necessary here to supply their defects by mercenary soldiers. Thus, as we have already mentioned, the Cretans were celebrated archers; excellent slingers came from Rhodes and Thessaly; and the best javelin-throwers from Acarnania and Aetolia.

These three kinds of light-armed troops were distinct; they all went to battle without any defensive armour, not even wearing a helmet, but only a light felt cap or some national hat. Besides these, and standing midway between slaves and light-armed soldiers, were the “Peltasts,” originally a Thracian troop, deriving their name from the pelta, a small wooden shield covered with leather, which resembled the crescent-shaped shield of the Amazons; their offensive weapons were the sword, a long spear, and four or five little javelins. The light-armed troops and peltasts were placed in the field, now in front, now behind the main body of the army, on the wings, or wherever seemed good to the general; they were also used a good deal for sallies, archery, as spies, in ambushes, etc.

Hoplite Phalanx formation

Ancient Greek Cavalry and Chariots

The Greeks did not attach any great importance to the cavalry, which was in part the result of the mountainous nature of their country, where cavalry regiments could seldom be properly deployed. Consequently the Greek cavalry, as a rule, rode badly and with uncertainty; they only fought against each other, and never attacked closed ranks of infantry, but pursued them when they were thrown into confusion; regular cavalry attacks, in which the horse not only carries its rider, but also is a means of attack, were unknown. [Source “The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks” by Hugo Blümner, translated by Alice Zimmern, 1895]

The horses wore saddle-cloths, not regular saddles, and bit and bridle, and armour — consisting of head-piece, breast-plate, and side-pieces. The rider wore a brazen cuirass, with neck-pieces, protected his abdomen by the usual leathern apron with metal coverings, and also wore a special kind of mail over arms and shoulders; the hips were also protected. The shield was not used for ordinary service, the offensive weapons were a long lance and a sword. There can be no doubt that spurs were used at that time, but it is possible that they wore them on only one foot, as the statues of the Amazons seem to show; two images represent Greek spurs, still in existence. Horse-shoes and stirrups were unknown, the rider sprang on his horse with the help of his lance, or else used some stone, branch, or other object to enable him to mount.

In the Homeric period cavalry was not employed in battle, but princes and nobles drove about the field in chariots from which they descended to fight. The bodies of these chariots were just large enough for the warrior and his driver to stand side by side, since lightness and quickness of movement were essential. The Greek type of chariot in the earliest pictures which we have is fairly open. An excellent representation of the Greek chariot on a large amphora shows the light harness in use and the method of arranging it. War-chariots were used on occasion for racing, as at the funeral games of Patroklos in the Twenty-third Book of the Iliad; and at a later period, when nobles no longer rode to battle and armies of citizens were the rule in Greece, the chariot remained as a racing vehicle. The principal feature of the Olympic games from the year 680 B.C. was the chariot race for four horses. [Source: “The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans”, Helen McClees Ph.D, Gilliss Press, 1924]

Chariots and cavalry were more widely used by the armies of Alexander the Great.

Greek Citizen Militias, the American Right to Bear Arms and the NRA

Melissa Lane wrote in The New Yorker: “It was this vision of citizen militias, further developed by the Romans, that went on to inspire the English revolutionaries of the seventeenth century and the American revolutionaries of the eighteenth—so shaping the values expressed in the Second Amendment. [Source: Melissa Lane, The New Yorker , February 1, 2013 |*|]

“Nevertheless, when one early-nineteenth-century American reflected on what the new American Republic could learn from the ancient Greeks, he drew attention to another feature that was widespread in their politics: refraining from carrying weapons in public spaces. In some cities, this was a matter of custom, in others it was a matter of law. Citizens carried their weapons abroad when serving in the military for public defense. But, even in these cities, it was believed that carrying weapons at home would be tantamount to letting weapons, not laws, rule. |*|

“This point is emphasized in a study of ancient-Greek laws attributed to Benjamin Franklin, though apparently composed by the founding editor of the Western Minerva, who published it in 1820. The laws, the author insisted, “apply with peculiar energy and propriety to the circumstances of the United States.” Number fifteen in this collection of a hundred “principles of political wisdom,” drawn from the school of Pythagoras, legislators for Greek settlements on the Italian mainland, was this: “Let the laws rule alone. When weapons rule, they kill the law.” |*|

Alexander the Great's cavalry and chariots in action at the Battle of Issus

“This is the opposite of the view attributed to the Founding Fathers by the N.R.A.’s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, in 2009, when he said that “our founding fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules.” On the contrary, letting the guys with weapons make the rules of ordinary life was the opposite of the classical practices that inspired the American founders. |*|

“Remembering the story of Charondas is a model of the seriousness with which such Greek societies took the issue of protecting public life from the threat posed by weapons could help inspire American lawmakers to get serious about gun control today without fearing that they are betraying the classical heritage of the citizen militia.” |*|

Ancient Greek Army Supply Lines

Supplying an army of 50,000 men was no easy task. Alexander the great employed bullocks and oxen (young and old castrated bulls) to carry the supplies, and the tactical range of his army was eight days, the maximum length of time in which an ox can carry supplies and food for itself. Campaigns of longer duration had to stay near ports (where food could delivered) or at settlements that were large enough to supply Alexander's army with what it needed. [Source: "History of Warfare" by John Keegan, Vintage Books]

Toni Tolis posted on Quora.com: Alexander used the Greek fleet to forward supplies to the army and marched alongside rivers to expand the reach of his naval vessels . He made alliances with cities in his way to establish forward bases and provide the means needed for his army to quick march between destinations. Most cities surrendered without fight as they were caught in surprise due to the swiftness of the Greeks and because the destruction of the city of Thebes had instilled fear in a lot of them. Oftentimes he would double march his forces just to conserve supplies and time needed to move. He could keep that pace because his army was very well trained , literally a mean, lean fighting machine revolving around Pezehtairos and his formidable long spear the sarisa.

Evangelos Lolos posted on Quora.com in 2022: The basis for Alexander’s logistical system was the Macedonian army which he inherited from his father, king Philip. Under Philip the use of slow-moving oxen-pulled carts was abolished and only the use of horses as pack animals was allowed. Men were expected to carry most of their equipment, such as weapons, tools, blankets and rations, most of which were carried in a backpack. As far as I know, they were the first army to do so. [Source Evangelos Lolos was born in the same region as Bucephalus and has a doctorate in Mathematics & History from University of Mississippi]

How Did the Greek Army Feed Itself

How were massive armies fed in the ancient times? Yannis Gaitanas posted in 2022: Populations in antiquity weren’t that small. They could raise bigger armies. However there’s a limit of a number of non productive people gathered in a small area and need to feed. If they are few they can go foraging and search for food. But they’ll need to go further and further away, scatter and in the end these small groups are prone to attacks. Or they can carry a route along places well provisioned, usually by allied navy that can carry more food than the usual cart wagon.[Source Yannis Gaitanas, Studied History and Archaeology & Social Anthropology at University of Thessaly]

Ancient Greek armies did a lot of sacrifices of animals, when going outside their borders, when entering an anemy land, on the eve of a battle, just minutes before the battle…This was possible because the animals accompanied them. It was an easy way to have meat (perhaps milk too) with you, without having to carry it. Pizza that walks, that’s handy. Of course for a short campaign you could have some dry food with you like dried figs or some kind of dry nuts etc.

Though not besieging, Xenophon’s 10,000 occasionaly asked from some city to sell them food or else they’d have to loot and attack them to get it. Here’s how Xenophon describes the plans to get supplies for his army: “We must obtain provisions from hostile territory, for we neither have an adequate market, nor have we, with some few exceptions, the means wherewith to but, but the territory is hostile and hence there is danger that many of you will perish if you set out after provisions carelessly and unguardedly” [Source Xenophon, Anabasis 5]

How Did the Ancient Greeks Survive During Sieges

If they spent months doing a siege, how did they have enough to eat? Yannis Gaitanas posted in 2022: In sieges, it was important to cut off the city from food and water supplies. If it had enough spring and wells, water supplies would be endless but food would not. the besiging army would also need to keep supllies running. Occupy some springs or riverside or have roads open with wagons bringing in supplies. Thucydides mentions preparations of the Athenian force that was to lay siege on Syracuse. Nikias, the chief general talks about it: “I am of opinion that we ought to take with us many men of arms of our ow, of our confederates, and of our subjects, and also out of Peloponesus as many as we can get, either for love or money, and also many archers and slingers, whereby to resist their cavalry, and much spare shipping for the more easy brining in of provision. Also our corn, I mean wheat and barley parched, we must carry with us from hence in ships, and bakers from the mills, hired and made to work by turns, that the army, if it chance to be weatherbound, may not be in want of victual. For being so great, it will not be for every city to recieve it. And so for all things else, we must as much as we can provide them ourselves and not rely on others. Above all, we must take hence as much money as we can” [Source Thucydides, History of the Poeloponesian War, book 6]

Nicias’ Athenians became desperate when they were defeated by the Syracusians at sea since they ran out of food and they had to break the siege and run for their lives. In fact, they didn’t even have water, so when they reached a river, they didn’t cross it to save themselves from the Syracusan army that had sallied and attacked them but they drank water ignoring the blood in the water or the spear that was coming for them. “The Syracusans stood upon the further bank of the river, which was steep, and hurled missiles from above on the Athenians, who were uddled together in the deep bed of the stream and for the most part were drinking greedily. The Peloponnesians came down the bank and slaughtered them falling chiefly upon whose who were in the river. Whereupon the water at once became foul but was drunk all the same although muddy and dyed with blood and the crowd fought for it.” So, armies had to make big and well organised preparations for provisions to outlast the garrison in food but even then it wasn’t easy and accidents did happen.[Source Thucydides, History of the Peloponesian War, 7]

Spartan Army

Sparta was one of the greatest city-states of ancient Greece and for a long time the main rival of Athens. Unlike Athens which became a large power by way of trade and naval supremacy, Sparta rose through its military might and bravery. It was said that while Athens was centered around great buildings, Sparta was built by courageous men who “served their city in the place of walls of bricks.”

The Spartan army was small. It was the only professional force in Greece. In Sparta every grown male was a soldier granted a farm run by slaves. The Spartans army was trained to fight in a phalanx, using a tight gird of overlapping shields to form an impenetrable mobile unit. Herodotus wrote the Spartans fought "with swords, eyes, and with their hands and their teeth." Plato, Napoleon and Kurt Hahn, the founder of the Gordonstoun school, where Prince Charles studied, were inspired by the brutal discipline of the ancient Spartans.

The Spartans had a saying: “come back with the shield or on top of it”, meaning come back from battle victorious or dead. They were some of the toughest soldiers the world had ever known and are famous for their last stand at the battle of Thermopylae. They were masters of the shield and spear combination that was later copied by many other armies. [Source tstrubi, Listervse, April 20, 2010]

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2024