The hoplite phalanx
Armoured citizens in close formation, whose military value becomes a political claim.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 200 years
- Known to
- ± 50 years
- Era
- Iron Age, Holocene
From around 700 BCE Greek warfare centres on ranks of heavily armoured spearmen locked shoulder to shoulder, each man's shield covering his neighbour. It requires no aristocratic training, only equipment a middling farmer can afford — and discipline. The link between who fights and who rules is direct: the men who supply their own armour and stand in the line have a claim on the constitution, and hoplite warfare is closely tied to the widening of citizenship.