Ancient Greek warfare item of armor or equipment, thus 'hoplite' may approximate to 'armored man'. Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of the Ancient Greek City-states. They were primarily armed as spear-men and fought in a phalanx (see below). Hoplite armor was extremely expensive for the average citizen, so it was commonly passed down from the soldier's father or relative. Alexander’s Macedonian army had spears called sarissas that were 18 feet long, far longer than the 6–9 foot Greek dory. The secondary weapon of a hoplite was the xiphos, a short sword used when the soldier's spear was broken or lost while fighting. The origins
Greek units of measurement Greek units of measurement A number of units of measurement were used in Greece to measure length, mass, area, and capacity. In Greece, the metric system has been used since 1836 and was made compulsory in 1922. One "piki" varied from 0.640 m to 0.670 m. 1 "pic" was equal to 1 piki. The "small piki" of Constantinople (also known as the "endeze") was equal to 0.648 m The "large piki" of Constantinople (also known as the "arsin") was equal to 0.669 m A masonry "piki" (also known as the "meimar zire") was equal to 0.750 m. Two types of