Peloponnesian Warĭuring the Peloponnesian war, a slight innovation was observed.
Another advantage of attacking in such a manner was that it kept the army of soldiers alert during a combat at a particular time rather than to just be limited up to the first few ranks. These frontal attacks were very difficult for the enemy to handle. The phalanx presented a shield wall along with a bunch of spears pointing to the enemy thereby actually performing frontal attacks on them. The hoplites would lock their shields together and then few of the foremost of soldiers would then project their spears out over the first rank of shields. The Hoplite Phalanx belonging to the Archaic and Classical periods of Greece was a formation in which the hoplites would line up in ranks in close order. Though there are no records which point out that there was any drill practice which was carried out but there are glimpses on vases as well as on statues which indicate faintly towards a drill movement.īut one thing which can be stated with much certainty is that there was no formal training for side arms like Axe or sword since these were considered to side weapons. It would be an impossible task to even think that the hoplites did not undergo any formal training to be a part of the army.