The ancient Greek city-states were constantly engaging in wars of different sizes. They usually fought each other in their own battles, but sometimes groups of Greek city-states would unite to fight other people in larger wars. Different types of Greek soldiers wore different types of armor and garments. They also had very different lives. Different wars were fought, and in these wars, one was not right or wrong, it was only a matter of perspective.
One of the more famous battles in ancient Greece was the Battle of Marathon. It was the very first battle of the Greek-Persian wars. It was the fall of 490 BCE, and Darius, the leader of Persia at the time, sought revenge on Athens because Athens had sent troops to the Greek colonies on the east side of the Aegean sea to fight against the Persians. The Persian generals--Hippias, Datis and Artaphernes--sailed in the direction of Athens with 600 ships. They landed on the coast of Marathon, about 25 miles away from Athens.
An Athenian general sent his fastest runner, Phidippides, to run to Sparta, which was 140 miles away, to ask for help. Sparta declined their request, for the festival of Karneia was currently in session. Sparta said that they would send troops, but only after the festival of Karneia was completed.
The Athenians decided that they did not have time to wait, so they marched into battle against the Persians. There were about 10,000 Athenians, but 27,000 Persians. The Athenians thinned out their ranks and spread out longer to form into a U-like shape, hoping to push the Persians back or into a smaller space.
Using the Persians’ numbers to their advantage they were able to beat the Persians and Darius, the current leader of Persia at the time, without any help from the Spartans. The runner Phidippides ran back to Athens to tell them of their victory. But because Phidippides had already run 140 miles to Sparta and then back, he was extremely exhausted. When he got back to Athens he was only able to gasp out “We won,” before he died of exhaustion.
This victory, with the Athenians winning when completely outnumbered, inspired many more victories throughout many more wars in ancient Greece. This leads us on to discuss another war. But this one was not a single battle, it was a group of wars.
Sometimes the Greek city-states fought together to fight a greater evil, but more often they quarreled among themselves. The Peloponnesian Wars were a series of battles that would end in the defeat of Athens.
Spartan troops made the first move and started by destroying small areas in the countryside of Attica. Athenian hoplites started making small raids along the seashore around the area of Sparta and other city-states in the Peloponnesian League. Athenian troops then made an expedition in Boeotia, which went terribly wrong. The city-state of Amphipolis then deserted Athens.
Athens feared that more of their allies might desert them, so they signed a treaty called the Treaty of Nicias. The Treaty of Nicias reset alliances back to how they were before, except for Plataea and some Thracian towns. Athens became the leader of the Delian League. a group of city-states against the Peloponnesian League).
Corinth sided with Sparta in the Peloponnesian League. Alcibiades, a Greek statesman, thinks that Sparta will win so he betrays Athens to Sparta and takes his chances. Both sides seek the alliance of Argos. But after the battle of Mintinea, Argos lost half of their military. Although Argos no longer matters in this war, Argos sides with Athens.
Under the advice of Alcibiades, Spartan troops invaded Attica and occupied the town of Decelea, which was near Athens. Athens continued to send troops on ships to Sicily, but every attempt was disastrous. Athens started the war with a naval edge, but was constantly losing ships and boats. Sparta now has a stronger navy.
Athens also loses naval ships in their loss in a naval fight against the Corinthians and Syracusans. Sparta then uses Persian gold to build up their naval fleet. Sparta stirs up trouble in Ionia.
The final battle comes down to the battle of Aegospotami. What was left of the Athenian fleet goes up against the new and refreshed Spartan fleet. The Spartans won, being led by commander Lysander. Athens surrenders.
Athens loses its democratic government. The golden age of Athens was over. Athens had surrendered to the Spartans. The Spartans now had the most powerful naval fleet. The Peloponnesian wars took place from 431 BCE all the way to 404 BCE. But Sparta’s victory would not last long.
Another famous battle was the Battle of Chaeronea, in 338 BCE. The Greek city-states had been through a lot together, but when an invader came that threatened the whole existence of Greece, they fought together.
Philip II of Macedonia wanted to conquer Greece. He built up a military from almost nothing to one of the most powerful militaries of the ancient world. Philip's first attempt at taking over part of Greek territory was at the Battle of Chaeronea.
Philip sent troops along the coast and originally wanted to pass through Thermopylae, but there were already Greek troops waiting there for them in the mountain pass, so they changed their destination to one farther down the coast, to a place south of Boeotia but north of Thebes.
Philip led a force of about 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. The combined Athenian, Theban and other city-state forces totaled about 35,000 troops. Philip placed Alexander (his son) on the left, opposite the majority of the Thebans. Philip took positions on the right, across from the Athenians. (There were also other city-states, but Athens and Thebes made the great majority of the soldiers fighting.)
So here the battle started: Thebes, Athens, and other allied city-states vs the Macedonian troops. The Macedonians had a different kind of spear than was unheard of in ancient Greek history before. Philip II of Macedonia had invented a spear called the Sarissa which was about 13 to 21 feet long. This gave them an advantage because they could attack from farther back.
Philip drew the Athenian military out of position with a fake retreat. As the Athenians moved forward to take advantage, the troops at the Athenian center moved left in an attempt to preserve the line.
That opened a gap between the Athenian center and the Thebans. with Alexander at the head of Philip’s cavalry, charged through. The Thebans and allied Athenians were taken from the rear, while the Macedonians routed the Athenians.
The other city-states were also being attacked from the sides, front, and back. Philip II of Macedonia ended up winning the battle. This was one of the greatest losses in Greek history. Philip II of Macedonia ended up conquering all of Greece.
When Philip II of Macedonia died, Alexander The Great became in control. Throughout Greek history there were villains and heroes, good and bad. Alexander The Great was known to have been a great war leader. His exceptional strategic skills allowed him to conquer large areas of land without much loss on his part.
Another one of the most important war leaders of ancient Greece, besides Alexander The Great, was named Leonides, King of Sparta. Leonides was most famous for his death in The Battle of Thermopylae. The Battle of Thermopylae was one of the many battles that took place in The Greek-Persian wars. It all started 10 years after The Battle of Marathon. This time, Xerxes led the Persians into battle instead of his father, Darius, before him.
As they approached the shores of ancient Greece, they decided to anchor down their ships near a place called Thermopylae. The only accessible approach for the Persians was through a small mountain pass. Unlucky for them, the Greeks had predicted their arrival and had a small military segment waiting for them in the mountain pass.
Under Spartan leadership each city-state had provided small sections of troops to total out to about 7,000 troops camped out in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Those 7,000 Greeks would not be enough though. Little did they know that the Persians had brought 200,000 troops of their own on many ships of different sizes.
No matter the differences of numbers the Greek soldiers fought on the same, fighting for their country with valor in their hearts. Because of the geological advantage of having the Persians attack through a mountain range, the Greeks were able to fight not all of them at once, but several at a time, as they lined up behind each other, and streamed out in a line.
Much was going well, but the Greeks were quickly losing troops. Even though the Persians had many more troops than the Greeks, much more Persians were killed than Greeks were.
On the second night of fighting, the Greeks were betrayed by Ephialtes. Ephialtes was a Greek that knew the area well, whatever made him switch sides was his own decision. Some speculate it was bribery or blackmail, but we can never be sure.
Ephialtes showed the Persians a second path through the mountains. This path went and ended up behind the Greeks. When Leonidis realized what had happened, he sent off his remaining troops to escape and gathered himself, 300 Spartans, and some other patriotic soldiers from various city-states.
Leonides was given a chance to surrender, but he declined. After all, Spartans never surrender. Leonides fought on until he could not. He knew that every second that he stayed alive was another second that the rest of the troops could escape.
When Leonides finally died, it was said that he died fighting on with his hands after his spear broke, with dead Persians surrounding his dead body.
Leonides was just one of the many war leaders and generals throughout ancient Greek history, although not all of them are famous in a good way. Pyrrhus became famous and well known in the ancient-Greek world for losing terribly in battles.
Pyrrhus led countless numbers of battles and almost all of them ended in tragedies or terrible disasters. Pyrrhus won most wars that he fought in, but at a great cost. He was so famous for this that in fact, his name made its way into the English modern language.
“Pyrrhic victory” is a victory that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it. To be so famous for winning at terrible costs that your name became a word would have been incredibly humiliating.
Different places fought each other often, and were led by different people, but some fought each other more than others. Throughout history in ancient Greece, feuds, alliances, and power have been created, destroyed, and rebuilt. The rivalry between Athens and Sparta was a very strong feud. Athens and Sparta have had a long lasting rivalry. The main group of wars they fought each other in, is called The Peloponnesian Wars. They were a series of wars that would end in Sparta conquering Athens.
During these wars, alliances were formed that basically split Greece into halves. Inside the peloponnesian league resided Sparta, Corinth and other city-states. Inside the Delian league resided Athens Argos and other places. (Mostly islands).
When Athens and Sparta were not fighting each other they were fighting a greater evil like the Persians or the Romans. Many different powers resided in Ancient Greece, some were good and some were bad.
As well as people from different places doing different things good or bad, they also wore different clothes. Here are some of the most common Greek, Persian and Roman hoplite outfits.
Spartan hoplites usually would wear a large bronze helmet, a breastplate and ankle guards. They would wear more armor covering the tops of their shoulder blades, and farther down on their legs. Where the metal would intersect with another piece of metal and in spots where there would be no other kind of armor, strips of leather would be placed.
Spartan hoplites were also known for their long hair and red cloaks. When going into battle, they wore red cloaks so that you could not see their blood if they were bleeding, so that they could look tough. The average Greek hoplite would wear about seventy pounds of armor in total.
Athenian hoplites wore similar to what Spartan hoplites would wear except Athenian hoplites were not known for their red cloaks. Athenian hoplites wore armor that covered a little more of their body, and also they sometimes wore wrist guards.
Roman troops wore armor that covered almost their entire body. They had a little bit exposed on their front face, thighs, and lower arms. They wore heavier armor than the average Greek soldier.
Persian troops were much different from the Roman troops. The Persian main territory was hot, so their armor was usually made out of leather. This made their armor not as strong as the Greek armor. This was one of the many reasons why the Persians were not able to conquer Greece.
Armor was only one of the many differences between Athens and Sparta when talking about war and warfare. Another big difference between Athens and Sparta was how they trained their militaries.
Sparta had a stronger military than Athens, but Spartan training was harsher and stricter than that of Athens. In Sparta, boys would leave their homes at age 7 to begin living in military barracks.
It was said that their training was harsh in order to prepare them for the harshness of battle. At age 18, they began to serve in the military full-time, and then at age 30, their military services would be over. Being a soldier for Spartan males was the only eligible job.
After ending their full time military services, they would officially become a citizen. After those long and hard 12 years they would still continue to eat their meals in the military barracks. Inside the military barracks there were rules about joining tables, for example if a table didn't want the new person there was a piece of dough and if anyone from a table smashed it, they would not be able to join that table.
There were also rules like when a spartan joined a table they would tell them all of their deepest secrets. Once they joined a table, they were like their second family. They would all go through many things together.
Another important thing to know about war and warfare in ancient Greece is that they often had words that mean different things for short. Here are some vocabulary words that you should know.
hoplites were average Greek soldiers. hoplites did not usually have any special jobs. Hypaspists, lightly armored hoplites, sometimes only wore leather armor. Phalanx were a group of troops or a military segment.
Being a soldier in Athens worked very differently than being a soldier in Sparta. In Athens, it was less harsh and less strict. At age 18 an Athenian male would start their military service. Then at age 20 they would join the reserve force and be called on only in times of war. They would also gain citizenship when done.
When they were called on in times of war, battles were sometimes very small battles or large battles. It did not matter the size, but different battle strategies were always in play. Next I will discuss some of the most common battle strategies used in times of war.
In the Greek-Persian wars, the Greeks often forced the Persians into tight or confined spaces to make it easier to attack the Persian when the Greeks were very greatly outnumbered.
Probably, the most commonly used war strategy was to trick the enemy into thinking that they are doing something that they really are not. Usually someone might trick the enemy into thinking they are retreating and then run away and turn a corner. Then other people on their side are waiting to attack. A phalanx might also trick the enemy to think they are in one place and then retreat and run away in the night or attack them under the cover of surprise
During the battle of Salamis the Greeks tricked the Persians into thinking that they were retreating and then they turned around and ramned them.
During land battles the Greeks would always form rows and rows of shields and if one soldier died, the one behind them would then step up to take their place, forming an unbreakable wall.
Rarely, poison was used to sabotage a place before attacking it. You Could target specific people or put poison in the city-state’s well to poison a large majority of the town.
Another very commonly used battle strategy in ancient Greece was if a place was going to attack another place they could intercept supply trains or trade routes going to and from the city. They could also put the city under a siege.
Towns in ancient Greece were built usually on a hill with walls surrounding it, to create a very strong and durable barrier to any possible invaders. Also, natural mountains were also used like walls as barriers.
Spies, bribery, and betrayals were all often used in battle. In the battle of Thermopylae the Greeks were betrayed by Ephialtes. Whether it was bribery or blackmail, he betrayed the Greeks just the same. War strategies were not the only way to win a war besides armor and brute strength. Weapons and a few other tools also played a big role in the outcome of many different large battles.
Spears were the most commonly used weapon in ancient Greece. Swords were also common, but not as common and good as a spear was in ancient Greece. The Dory was the name of a common spear, about three meters long. The Sarrissa was the name of the spear invented by Philip II of Macedonia, about four to seven meters long.
Bows and arrows were not used until later, when the crossbow was invented. Fire was an odd weapon, but it could be used. Fire could be used through arson or other means. Fire was used during The Burning of Athens. Sling shots were often used by hypaspists.
Weapons were very important to war and warfare in ancient Greece. But sometimes something that was even more important than the weapon itself, was the person who wielded it. In Greek mythology, many heros, gods and monsters have all used weapons for good, or sometimes for evil.
There were many complexities of war and inventions that changed different aspects of war completely.
By Oliver Halbach
100% Jounalist
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