Ancient Greek warfare the rise of the city-state evolved a new style of warfare: the hoplite phalanx. Hoplites were armored infantryman, armed with spears and shields, and the phalanx was a formation of these soldiers with their shields locked together and spears pointed forward. The Chigi vase, dated to around 650 BC, is the earliest depiction of a hoplite in full battle array. With this evolution in warfare, battles seem to have consisted mostly of the clash of hoplite phalanxes from the city-states in conflict. Since the soldiers were citizens with other occupations, warfare was limited in distance, season and scale. Neither side
Peltast and may have been a common type in Central Europe. The shield could be carried with a central strap and a handgrip near the rim or with just a central hand-grip. It may also have had a carrying strap (or "baldric") as Thracian peltasts slung their shields on their backs when evading the enemy. Peltasts' weapons consisted of several javelins (), which may have had to throw straps to allow more force to be applied to a throw. In the Archaic period, the Greek martial tradition had been focused almost exclusively on the heavy infantry, or hoplites. The style of