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
Jan Best Jan Best Jan Gijsbert Pieter Best (born 29 August 1941, Grou) is a Dutch pre- and protohistorian, comparative linguist, archaeologist, and author. For about 30 years, he was a Professor at the University of Amsterdam, where he taught ancient history, and Mediterranean prehistory and protohistory. In 1966, Best passed his graduate examinations in Classical Languages, achieving a major in Ancient History, along with minors in Greek and Latin. In 1969, he attained the doctorate with his thesis "Thracian Peltasts and their Influence on Greek Warfare". Afterwards, he succeeded in his graduate examination in Archaeology, with a major in Cultural Pre-