MATTHEW AMT'S

GREEK HOPLITE PAGE

For the reenactor, living historian, or reconstructionist with too much spare time and money
                                                                                                                                                                           Last revised: 3/13/09

       For hundreds of years, warfare in Classical Greece was dominated by the hoplite, or heavy infantryman.  These were generally citizen-soldiers, with each man providing his own equipment and serving when necessary in defense of his city.  Hoplites fought in a phalanx, a dense line of spearmen six or more ranks deep.  Each was armed with the large round shield (which we now incorrectly call the hoplon), a spear, and a sword, and typically wore a helmet, body armor, and greaves.
       This site deals with reconstructing the hoplite of the Persian War era, 490-480 BC, the period in which the classic Corinthian helmet and composite cuirass were most common.  By the time of the Peloponesian Wars, fifty years later, much had changed.

       This is NOT an attempt to start an ancient Greek living history group or hoplite unit!!  If you want to do something like that, go for it, and sign me up, but I myself am far too swamped running the Twentieth Legion to found a whole new group.  This is just a couple guys making some Greek stuff on the side in our copious spare time, and sharing our findings and experience with anyone loopy enough to try it.  The descriptions of equipment and construction will not be as in-depth and thorough as on the Twentieth Legion site, but feel free to contribute more if you can.

       Unfortunately, new research and better examination of old research is rapidly making much of the information on this old site obsolete!  I am leaving up as much as may be helpful, and trying to update where I can, but it is not likely that I will be building all new equipment to replace what I now find to be less than accurate.

       Also be aware that much of the old information will continue to circulate for years, and that many popular books must now be used with great caution.  That includes all our beloved basic sources: Peter Connolly's Greek Armies, and/or pertinant sections of Greece and Rome at War; John Warry's Warfare in the Classical World; the Osprey Elite volume The Ancient Greeks by Nick Sekunda; and AM Snodgrass' Arms and Armour of the Greeks.

       If you thought finding good information for Roman equipment was difficult, let alone sources for accurate reproductions, you ain't seen nothin' yet.  The ancient Greeks seem to have gone out of their way to make every item of armor or weaponry difficult to reproduce, and modern archeologists seem to have hidden away vast quantities of artifacts just to keep reenactors from finding out how the darn things were made.  It's a challenging era, you bet.

ELSEWHERE ON THIS SITE:
 
Making a Hoplon Linothorax R&D Higgins Armory Helmets The BRONZE AGE
Weapons PHOTOS! Bibliography 



SUPPLIERS

Manning Imperial--Craig Sitch, P.O. Box 27 Redan, Vic Australia 3350.  Phone 03 5338 8995 http://www.manningimperial.com/.   HOPLON!!  Looks gorgeous!  Also beautiful Corinthian helmet, greaves, sword, and more.  Prices in Australian dollars, good for us Yanks but shipping is murder!

"Wulf"--United Kingdom, wulf.lighting AT virgin DOT net, or sabre.wulf AT virgin DOT net.  Makes a very nice aspis (shield), including those on the www.hoplites.co.uk web site.  Not cheap!  He may be hard to get hold of (being very busy!), but this is the only contact information I have for him.

Lonely Mountain Forge--Joe Piela,  http://www.lonelymountain.hoplologia.org/  (new site, still growing!).  Tom and I got our Corinthian helmets from  him--you can see Tom's being raised in one piece on Joe's website, and Tom's greaves, too.   He does excellent work and his prices are good.  His backlog is about 18 months but he meets his deadlines.

Imperium Ancient Armory--California.  http://www.imperiumancientarmory.com/.  Deepeeka gear and other sources, generally very good.  Also an excellent linothorax!

La Wren's Nest --Lawrence Brooks, 35 Chadbourne Ridge Road, Hollis, Maine 04042.207-727-5844, fax 207-727-4596. http://www.lawrensnest.com.  Deepeeka helmets, weapons, and accessories (See below).

ASPIS/HOPLON BLANKS--Michael Broyles, mjbroyles AT yahoo DOT com.  Approximately $450 plus shipping.  Any covering or fittings would be extra.

By-the-Sword--http://www.by-the-sword.com.  Full line of Deepeeka gear (see below).  (Steer clear of the other brands!)

***Deepeeka Steelcrafts, India--This is the supplier for many vendors.  While these items are far more accurate than any previous "off the shelf" gear, there are still flaws of various degrees.  Their "Italo-Corinthian" helmet (AH6058B) is decent even though it is brass.  But skip the steel version and don't bother with the crest.  I do not find their AH6111 "Spartan Early Corinthian" helmet as appealing, though other people find it acceptable.  Their swords look pretty good, and the Horsehead falcata is quite nice, though I haven't seen the others up close and don't know how good the details are.  Their muscle cuirass and bell cuirass are huge, not something you can wear and move in.   Their old #AH3987B "Greek Scaled Armor" linothorax is bad, but their new #6125 "Alexander the Great Linen Cuirass" looks pretty good.  Their old #AH3721 "Greek shield" is garbage, and their newer #6116 Athenian Shield seems to be too small (haven't seen a close report of it yet).  BEWARE: Many vendors offer Deepeeka's good stuff and bad without any distinction between them!
       For a complete critique of Deepeeka's Greek products, email me at matthew_amt AT yahoo DOT com.  Deepeeka has a website at http://www.deepeeka.com, but they only sell wholesale so no price information is available.  Prices will vary from vendor to vendor.  Deepeeka will not be able to give you any more detailed information about the historical accuracy of their products, either, since they only copy what someone shows them or what they see in pictures.  They don't understand authenticity or reenacting!

       Daniyal Steelcrafts (DSC) is another Indian manufacturer, and their line of products is expanding.  Their prototype Greek shield is gorgeous!  You might be able to buy it through Imperium Ancient Armory in California, http://www.imperiumancientarmory.com/, or Armamentaria in the UK, http://www.armamentaria.com/store/ 

       I have given up on Museum Replicas and Windlass Steelcrafts.  Nothing that they have is any better than the equivalent item from the above sources, and most of it is worse.  They have demonstrated repeatedly that they have no knowledge or concern for historical accuracy in their pre-medieval products.

       People often ask about the cast bronze Greek helmets from Hellenic Art--Some of these look decent, but I don't believe Greek helmets were ever cast.  These helmets are simply too heavy to wear, plus they are finished with an "antique" patina (green paint) rather than being polished, and some of them are not very accurate in appearance.  I have also heard a report of sloppy workmanship.  EXPENSIVE, too!  But if you want...

       For a long list of suppliers of materials and equipment, see the Legio XX Suppliers page, http://www.larp.com/legioxx/supplrs.html.



LINKS

The Greek Military section of the Roman Army Talk forum
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/ 

       --RAT discussion on Footwear, http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5854 

THE PHALANX Email discussion list
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~sparta/phalanx/

King Leonidas and the Spartans of Thermopylae
http://300spartanwarriors.com/ 
http://www.300spartanwarriors.blogspot.com/ 

The Greek Warriors--Hoplite unit in New York
http://www.thegreekwarriors.com/ 

Spartan & Amazon Warriors--Western Pennsylvania
http://www.spartanandamazonwarriors.com/ 

Alexander the Great Club, email discussion list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karnaketernal/ 

The Hoplite Association, UK--A hoplite reenactment group, and they look good!
http://www.hoplites.org/ 
http://www.4hoplites.com/ --Includes more equipment guides, etc.

Sydney Ancients--Mark Kelly.  Hoplites and other ancient types, Australia. 
http://www.sydneyancients.5u.com/

Hoplite group, Germany
http://hetairoi.de/ 

Listing of Greek Festivals in the US--Need some place to wear this stuff, right?
http://www.greek-fest.com  

"Everything Spartan, Lakonian, and Messenian"--Check out the LINKS on this site!
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7849/

Sparta: Her People, Her Culture, Her Legacy--by Kevin Marshall and Kevin Hendryx, still under construction but GREAT book list.
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~sparta/

Ekdromos
http://cerberus.netfirms.com/Ed/ekdromos/index.htm

Greek Arms and Armor in the Shefton Museum, University of Newcastle
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/shefton-museum/arms/armsindex.html

Ancient Greek Armour, Shields and Helmets--Great links and photos, but beware of the links to equipment vendors!
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/war/Armor2.htm 

Hellenic Macedonia--Artifact Photo Gallery.  Includes Philip II's equipment and more.
http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/gallery.html 

Metropolitan Museum of Art--Muscled cuirass
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gwar/ho_1992.180.3a.htm 

Four interesting helmets
http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/O0009458.html 

Hermann Historica Munchen--Antiquities Auction house, browse through for photos of helmets, armor, etc.
http://www.hermann-historica.de/gb/index.htm

"Lloydian Armour: Hoplite"
http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk 

"Der Salzherr von Hallstatt"--Reconstruction of a Hallstatt-era Warrior.  GORGEOUS stuff!
http://www.hallstattzeit.de/

Slinging.org--Stone Age Ballistics--A number of great articles on slings and slinging, links, etc.
http://www.slinging.org

University of Pennsylvania Museum --Used to have a Virtual Exhibit, but it seems to be gone.
http://www.museum.upenn.edu/

The Twentieth Legion--see how I spend most  of my time and energy
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/index.html
 
Making a Hoplon Linothorax R&D Higgins Armory Helmets The BRONZE AGE
Weapons PHOTOS! Bibliography 


THIS PAGE AND THIS AUTHOR
       My vital statistics:  Matthew Amt, Laurel, MD, email matthew_amt AT yahooo DOT com .  (Be sure to put something distinctive in the subject line, or your message may get deleted as spam!)   This is my first attempt at constructing my own site, and I am keeping it simple so that it packs as much information as possible with the fewest distractions.  It was constructed using Netscape Composer.  Modifications will be made from time to time, and each section has the date of its latest update at the top.
       I will not make Greek equipment for you!  I will not form or run a Greek unit!  I will not publish a Greek hoplite newsletter!  I have constructed this website to be of some assistance to anyone dabbling in this era, and you may contact me if you think you can wheedle more information out of me (oh, probably).  And of course if you think you have something to add, by all means let me know!

 -------------------

Copyright Matthew R. Amt, 1999.  Permission is granted to print, download , or copy information on this site for personal use, or for sharing freely with other interested persons, as long as due credit is given.  Permission is NOT given for commercial use or personal profit.  When in doubt, just ask!