Hoplite they were tougher and cheaper to make. The linen was thick. By contrast with hoplites, other contemporary infantry (e.g., Persian) tended to wear relatively light armour, use wicker shields, and were armed with shorter spears, javelins, and bows. The most famous are the peltasts, light-armed troops who wore no armour and were armed with a light shield, javelins and a short sword. The Athenian general Iphicrates developed a new type of armour and arms for his mercenary army, which included light linen armour, smaller shields and longer spears, whilst arming his peltasts with larger shields, helmets and a longer spear,
Spartan army peltasts became a much more common sight on the Greek battlefield and themselves became more heavily armed. In response to Iphicrates' victory over Sparta in 392 BC, Spartan hoplites started abandoning body armour and eventually wore almost no armour apart from a shield, leg greaves, bracelets, helmet and a robe. In later periods Spartans did start to readopt armour, but on a much lesser scale than during the Archaic period. Finally during 227 BC, Cleomenes' reforms introduced updated equipment to Sparta, including the Macedonian "sarissa" (pike). However pike-men armed with the "sarissa" never outnumbered troops equipped in the hoplite style.