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The Hoplite Phalanx with Special Reference to the Poems of Archilochus and Tyrtaeus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Extract

The adoption of hoplite tactics and equipment in nearly all the more important Greek lands can be roughly dated by archaeological evidence to the first half of the seventh century and in certain areas within somewhat narrower limits. The momentous change from the essentially long-range fighting of the eighth century involved a single structural alteration in the round shield slung on a telamon which was in vogue, an alteration designed to make it afford the maximum of protection to troops in close formation so long as they stood firm; in the case of flight it became a mere encumbrance and was fairly likely to be thrown away. The change consisted in the substitution for the single central hand-grip previously in use of a central arm-band of metal (πὁρπαξ), through which the bearer thrust his arm up to the elbow, and a hand-grip (ἀντιλαβἠ), at the end of the horizontal diameter and just within the rim, which he grasped with his left hand.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1947

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References

page 76 note 1 Strabo, iii, 3, 6, where the terms are applied to the standard shield of the writer's own day. There is, however, no reason to think that had changedits meaning since the classical age, or that was not then in use. The meaning of and is another matter; vide infra, p. 130.

page 76 note 2 Diod. Sic. xv, 44, 3. In Attic prose the word occurs in this sense only in Thuc. vii, 75, 5, where it includes the shields of the cavalry. The phrase is lacking in one MS. (C), and is omitted by Hude, who presumably regarded it as a gloss. Aeschylus, however (S. c. Th. 315), uses in the sense of a point which will be further discussed below, and Paley is probably right in giving the sense of ‘shield’ to in Hel. 1375. It is next found in one or two inscriptions of the Hellenistic age, cited in L. and S.9, and in Diodorus xvii, 18, 1. It occurs, however, in Xenophon not, indeed, with the specific sense of shield, but of ‘protection’ or ‘protective armour’; which may be the occasion of the explanation in Hesychius This is also its sense in Aen. Tact.xxix, 12, where is defined as In xxiv, 6 it certainly means ‘shields’. In xxix, 4 the MS. reading ‘protective head-gear’, may be correct. If the emendation is adopted, the meaning is ‘helmets, shields’.

page 76 note 3 Though I have not measured examples numerous enough to establish an average, 17 inches or very little less appears to be an ordinary measurement for a man of medium height, which gives a diameter of 34 inches for the shield; the proportion to the subject's height in vase-paintings unfortunately cannot be used for precise confirmation. Payne (NC, 99) calls attention to a change from a smaller to a larger shield which takes place in the latest phase of proto-Corinthian, i.e., in the third quarter of the seventh century, after which the larger shield is established. The hoplite shield was large; this comes out in Herodotus' account of the Anatolian contingents in Xerxes' host, whose undoubtedly single-grip shields are repeatedly described as small, and in the changes which Iphikrates found necessary in training troops which should be heavyarmed but of more than hoplite mobility (Diod. Sic. xv, 44, 2). It is difficult in examining the shields to which Payne draws attention to decide how far the varying size depends on the artist's view of the proportions of the human body. Payne himself notes that length of limb is a feature of proto-Corinthian and all early archaic figures (op. cit., 99, n. 1). Thus on the Hymettus amphora the shields clearly indicated as hoplite are too small for their rôle in relation to the total height of the bearers, but only because their legs are preposterously long. The shields in NC, 99, fig. 31 are disproportionately large; the figures of the combatants are squat, but the one on the left, naturally the only one whose shield-arm is visible, has an equally disproportionate length of arm which would equal that of Rob Roy. Again, the pattern at which the artist aims must be taken into account; there can be no other motive for the difference in size between the shields on a Middle Corinthian cup reproduced op. cit., pl. 34. 8.

Fortunately we have direct and remarkably complete evidence for the size of hoplite shields in use in the Peloponnese in the seventh and early sixth centuries. A complete shield (which fell to pieces) and fragments of others were found in the first excavation of Olympia, and the metal parts of no fewer than seventeen in the recent researches of the German Institute on the same site (Ol iv, 163–4 and Jdl lii (1937); Olympiabericht, 54 ff.). The diameters could be calculated, and ranged from 80 to 100 centimetres—roughly 31 to 39·3 inches. The later finds belong to the early, the others to the late archaic age; all alike are of Corinthian workmanship. The differences in diameter are not related to the dates. There was therefore no change in the size of the Corinthian shield in this period, and the differences presumably were in the arm measurements of the owners. The outsize of 100 cm. is surprising, even supposing that the Dorian aristocracy of Corinth had an exceptional average of height; alternatively, the may have been of unusual length. Cf. NC, 95, fig. 29 C.

page 77 note 1 v, 71.

page 77 note 2 This point was established by Helbig as long ago as 1909 (ÖJh xii, 1 ff.), though the evidence on which he principally relied has proved not to be applicable. Further finds of miniature votive terracotta shields have shewn that they continued to be made with single central loops merely, doubtless for suspension, long after hoplite equipment had become universal. This is notably the case with examples found by the Americans at Corinth, many of which date to the sixth century.

page 77 note 3 AZ xliii (1885), pl. 8. 1, CVA Copenhagen ii, pl. 73.4 a (Attica), figure immediately in front of ship's stern. Fig. 1 a from a new photograph, by the courtesy of the Keeper of the Department of Antiquities, Danish National Museum, Copenhagen.

page 77 note 4 BSA xxxv, pl. 35, no. 33.

page 77 note 5 Ol iv, pl. XVI, nos. 242 and 243.

page 77 note 6 Aegina, Textb., 433, no. 9, pl. 118. 30.

page 79 note 1 See, e.g., Köster, Das antike Seewesen, fig. 21, between pp. 86 and 87.

page 79 note 2 In non-Attic Geometric art the single spear some times occurs, e.g., on the gem from the Aphaia sanctuary cited above, on a gem from Siphnos with an engraving of an armed warrior (JHS lviii, 1938, 232, fig. 10) and on a sherd from the Argolid (Jdl xiv, 86, rig. 44).

page 79 note 3 AZ l.c., no. 2.

page 79 note 4 Euthyd. 299 C.

page 79 note 5 AM xviii (1893), 108. Grave v; fragmentary iron swords were also found in iv and xvii.

page 80 note 1 Der griechische Helm, 8.

page 80 note 2 BSA xviii, 25 ff. The use of the single spear is noteworthy.

page 80 note 3 There are at least two examples of Geometric bronze figurines wearing helmets (not Corinthian) with cheek-pieces, and one of a helmet-maker producing an example. Lamb, G and R Bronzes, pl. 15 c and d, and AJA xlviii (1944), 1–2, figs. 1–4.

page 80 note 4 Ol iv, no. 247; Fouilles de Delphes v, Pl. 1. 7.

page 81 note 1 Ant. Denk, ii, pl. 44; VS, pl. 39; Pfuhl, MuZ, 595 Payne, Protokorinthische Vasenmalerei, pls. 28–9.

page 81 note 2 Infra, p. 93, fig. 7.

page 82 note 1 To this accompaniment the must have been sung, and an early example clearly alludes to the hoplite with his single spear (Carmina Popularía, Bergk4 Tyrt. 15, Diehl 18).

page 82 note 2 Besides Thucydides and the other sources named above, the following ancient authors ascribe the practice to the Lacedaemonians: Aristotle fr. 244 (quoted by Aulus Gellius l.c.); Cic. Tuse, ii, 16, 37; Val. Max. ii, 6, 2; Plut. Vit. Lye, 21.

page 82 note 3 The function ascribed by Thuc. to the contrasts oddly with its orgiastic character and with practically everything said about it by the ancients; see especially Arist. Pol. 1341 b. The bagpipe, how ever, can produce excellent marching music, though that is not its primary function.

page 82 note 4 The is mentioned only twice in Homer, once as a Trojan instrument (K 13), in a book which there is good reason to think a post-Odyssean addition to the Iliad, once (Σ 495) in the marriage scene on the shield of Achilles, i.e., it is not associated with the Greek heros at all, though as a characteristically Anatolian instrument it must have been familiar to the Greeks of Ionia, in use alike by their Lydian and their Phrygian neighbours. On two Attic Late Geometric vases (CVA Berlin i, pl. 1, 2, A 1; Mon. Piot xxxvi, 27 ff.) double flute and lyre accompany a dance; cf. Young, R. S., AJA 1939, 715Google Scholar. The lyre, current in Minoan Crete, as the sarcophagus from Hagia Triada shews, appears with a varying number of strings on Geometric vases and also has its place in epic. The use of the the only instrument employed by the non-Dorian armies of Greece, probably also dates from the introduction of the hoplite phalanx. It does not occur in Geometric vase-painting; the noun, which is of unknown derivation, occurs only once in Homer, in a simile (Σ 219), and the verb is used once of the noise produced by heaven when the Olympians meet in battle (Φ 388). That is to say, it is not associated with the heros at all. Yet like the it was probably familiar to the Greeks of Ionia, for though later Greece ascribed its invention to the Etruscans, they almost certainly derived their first knowledge of it from Anatolia. A remarkable bronze figurine from Mylasa (JHS xxix, 1909, 197, fig. 4) represents a trumpeter giving the signal, probably on the field of battle, for he has the fool's cap helmet of the Tiryns shields and the charioteer figurines from Olympia (e.g., 01 iv, no. 249 = Lamb, pl. 16 a). This fact and the general resemblance of the figures in technique suggests that the Carian is of about the same date.

An interesting graffito (5th cent. ?) at Abydos records the names of and apparently mercenaries, possibly part of a Cretan garrison established in the Memnoneion, members of which have also left their graffiti. See Perdrizet and Lefebvre, Les graffites grecs du Memnoneion d'Abydos, no. 531; cf. p. ix.

page 83 note 1 Pfuhl, MuZ, 117, 163, 226.

page 83 note 2 Each of the men still arming has two spears with small loops attached to the shafts whose purpose is obscure. They should be throwing loops, like that on the Siana cup in the B.M. (B 380, JHS 1884, pl. 43, CV ii III H e, pl. 8. 1), through which the warrior has thrust two fingers in the act of getting the spear into position for a cast. The warrior is a heroic figure equipped in the usual inconsistent manner, with a Boeotian arranged as a hoplite shield and a skin draped over his corslet; it is therefore quite appropriate that he should be armed with the Homeric throwing spear. No such explanation applies to the arming hoplites of the Chigi vase. Helbig has shown however (Mém. de l'Ac. des Inscriptions xxxvii, 175 ff.) that hoplites on early vases are often accompanied by a mounted squire or groom, who sometimes leads a spare horse and carries one or more hoplite spears. (Cf. SBBayAkW. 1911, pl. II). Extra spears, especially of the long thrusting type, could be more easily carried on horseback if loops were attached.

page 84 note 2 Jdl xxi (1906), pl. II; Pfuhl, , MuZ, iii 58Google Scholar; Johansen, VS, pl. XXXII.

page 86 note 1 CVA Berlin i, p. 34, pls. 43 and 44; first published Jdl ii, (1887), pl. V. See BSA xxxv, 188 for a discussion of the vase by J. M. Cook, whose dating I follow in preference to that of the German editors, Eilmann and Gebauer.

page 86 note 2 Berliner Vasensammlung, Beschreibung, no. 56.

page 87 note 1 Cf. the bronze figurine of a warrior from Olympia, AM xxxi (1906), pl. X VIII, another from Delphi, Lamb, G and R Bronzes, pl. XXI b, and the Boeotian figurine of Mantiklos, ibid., pl. XX c, and Penthesilea on Shield A from Tiryns. It is possible that we have in this article the zoster of epic. See further p. 135, n. 3.

page 87 note 2 Johansen, VS pl. XXII, 1 C.

page 88 note 1 For παραμηρἰδια in b.f. see H. R. W. Smith, CVA San Francisco, p. 27, pl. 8. For pinakes see Ant. Denk, ii, pl. 23. 9 b and 40. 2 a; for an Attic example the amphora of the Leagros group in Naples on which the rape of Antiope by Theseus and Peirithoos is depicted, MA xxii, pls. 58–9. Theseus wears παραμλριδα, whose rectangular edge saves the spirals from any suspicion of being merely a fantastic convention for muscles. Antiope also wears them as well as greaves, the black of the metal in both cases contrasting with the white of her flesh.

page 89 note 1 AO pls. 15–6. Wace is inclined (BSA xii, 292) to regard them as of leather, bound with metal, as the lacing indeed suggests; but the new publication of the Hymettus amphora exhibits laced greaves, which are certainly metallic.

page 89 note 2 Ol iv, pl. 60, no. 996.

page 89 note 3 From photographs by Mrs. Wade-Gery, who also kindly supplied the particulars.

page 89 note 4 CVA Berlin i, pls. 30. 1–2 and 34.2; p. 23.

page 89 note 5 BSA xxxv, pl. 40 b. For the sake of completeness a fragment of another support in the Aigina group in Berlin may be mentioned (CVA Berlin i, pls. 28–9, text p. 23) which is somewhat but not much later in appearance. Four exceedingly fragmentary figures survive of which one pair is engaged in a spear-duel. The figures wear greaves, their spears, both used overhand, are single, and the attitude is ‘hoplite’. The other pair is engaged in a sword duel; one Corinthian helmet is preserved, and the of both shields. The drawing is singularly unintelligent, but there can be no doubt that hoplites are intended.

page 90 note 1 ii (1916), 35, fig. 29; VS, pl. 24, I b; cf. AJA xlvi (1942), 39 and fig. 21, p. 37.

page 91 note 1 VS, pl. XXIX, 2 b. The subject recurs on the Chigi vase, op. cit. pl. XL.

page 91 note 2 Ibid., pl. XXIX, 1 b.

page 91 note 3 Hesperia ii (1933), 609 ff.

page 91 note 4 AJA xxxv (1931), 27 ff.

page 92 note 1 It is consistently called white by the editors of CVA Berlin i, but it is plain from the descriptions of Furtwängler and Cook cited above that this is only an approximate description.

page 92 note 2 Hesperia ii, 113, fig. 80, no. 288.

page 92 note 3 From the citadel of Ialysos (Clara Rhodos i. 1928, 72 ff.) and from Praisos (BSA viii, 258; cf. pl. X, where, however, no shield of this type is reproduced).

page 95 note 1 Cf. A. W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on Thucydìdes, 10 and 12.

page 95 note 2 H. preserved 4. 1; neck and mouth missing. Fig. 7, from a drawing by Miss Audrey Petty. The fabric is good, though the surface of the vase is poorly preserved. The shape is that of Johansen VS, pl. 23. 1. This together with the style, suggests a date in the second decade of the seventh century.

page 96 note 1 δ 187–8, λ 522.

page 96 note 2 See p. 134.

page 96 note 3 Perachora i, 22 and 32.

page 96 note 4 An inverted double V indicates the space between the ends of the lower ribs, as the ‘omega curve’ does on plate corslets in b.f. vase-painting. This anatomical indication was presumably given on real corslets.

page 96 note 5 Possibly Phobos; he answers to the description of Phobos as Agamemnon's shield-blazon on the chest of Cypselus, Paus. v, 19, 4.

page 98 note 1 Note the segment which appears behind the foremost knee of the opponent. Even without this addition however the shield is obviously oval, not circular.

page 98 note 2 The evidence of the latest Dipylon vases such as the Benaki amphora (on which the hour-glass shield figures only as a shield-blazon) suggests that the older form was supplanted by the round single-grip shield some time before the end of the eighth century. Even seventh-century vase-painters may have been dependent for their models on temple votives, actual or miniature, of which they would see only the faces.

page 99 note 1 ψ 820–1.

page 99 note 2 Θ 306.

page 99 note 3 Φ 115–6.

page 99 note 4 Γ 369–70.

page 99 note 5 Π 762–3; cf. also Ρ; 394–5. On Late Geometrie vases warriors seize their opponents by the crests of their helmets: Cat. Louvre A 519, Hampe FgS 48, fig. 22.

page 100 note 1 The central group however is that of the hoplites' duel.

page 101 note 1 Not apparent in the reproductions, but according to Johansen worn by all the figures except the archer.

page 101 note 2 On the Perachora aryballos the archer is apparently thought of as in the second plane; one hand and part of the shaft of the arrow he is preparing to launch are masked by the leg of the hoplite in front of him. The artist could not however carry his conception through, for the archer's r. foot masks the 1. foot of the hoplite.

page 101 note 3 Over Paris, a bird of prey sighting his quarry flies in the line of the arrow's flight towards the Greek side. Cf. the bird on shield A from Tiryns, p. 137 infr.

page 103 note 1 ∧ 547.

page 103 note 2 Θ 72. On a proto-Attic sherd in the Black and White style, which is contemporary with our group of aryballoi and strongly under proto-Corinthian influence, a warrior who has fallen on his knees clasps the knee of his opponent, BSA xxxv, pl. 52 a.

page 103 note 3 Ε 309–10 = ∧ 355–6.

page 104 note 1 NC, 96.

page 105 note 1 See, e.g., Perrot et Chipiez vii, 182, fig. 67; AZ xliii (1885) pl. 8. 1, CVA Copenhagen ii pl. 73. 4; Köster, Das Antike Seewesen, fig. 21 (between pp. 86 and 87).

page 105 note 2 We may note the two dedicatory inscriptions from Perachora, both earlier than 650, one possibly of the eighth century and certainly not much later, and both addressed to Hera The adjective is a literary, not a cult epithet. The development of the lion-hunt as we see it on an aryballos (VS, pl. XXIX, 2 b), and on the Chigi vase may have been influenced by such a description as we find in the Hoplopoiia (Σ 577 ff.) and by the more elaborate lion-similes of Homer. Elsewhere the lion appears pacing in a formal procession of bull, deer, goat, etc., or with sphinx or griffin as an exotic decorative element, while in Late Attic Geometric he occasionally appears as a symbol of death.

page 105 note 3 CAH iii, 551.

page 106 note 1 Ω 28–9. The introduction of inscriptions, an inartistic device, was probably associated with the export trade in fine painted vases. If their designs were based on wall-paintings in the public buildings of Corinth there was no occasion for labels on those destined for the home market or the Argive or Corinthian colonies overseas. When they passed beyond these limits, however, and especially to Etruscan customers, the need for explanation would become apparent, and on Corinthian vases it was lavishly given.

page 106 note 2 N.C. p. 98, fig. 30.

page 106 note 3 AA 1895, 33, fig. 5; VS, pl. XXIII, 2 a and c, p. 144. There are only three other examples of the chariot in proto-Corinthian vase-painting: (a) in the main zone of an aryballos from Syracuse (MA xxv, pl. XIV; VS, pl. XXXIV, 1); race of pair-horse chariots. A bearded man stands with three prizes displayed before him—a tripod, a krater and a large kotyle. This is either a local event or a Homeric reminiscence. The five prizes for the chariot-race in ψ include a tripod, a lebes and a phiale. (b) In a subordinate zone on the Berlin aryballos, race of fourhorse chariots; an Olympic reference which conforms to the modernity of the theme of the main zone. (c) A four-horse chariot as an isolated motive in the lion-hunt zone of the Chigi vase. To these must be added chariots with winged horses, which are in a different category: that on the Aegina pyxis just quoted and another on a Geometric gem from Corinth (Furtwängler, Antike Gemmen, II. pl. 4, no. 46).

page 107 note 1 VS. pl. XXIX 1 b, 2b.

page 107 note 2 Jdl liii (1938), 90 ff., Eine frühgriechische Kampfform.

page 108 note 1 BSA viii, 258, pl. X; xl, 56 f.

page 108 note 2 Models of pre-hoplite shields sometimes have rims, e.g., a series of the so-called lambda type from the Heraion of Samos; but they are decidedly narrower and less sharply offset. See Eilmann, AM lviii, 118–19, fig. 64 and 65.

page 109 note 1 Lamb, G and R Bronzes, pl. XV C.

page 109 note 2 AJA 1901, 384, fig. 13.

page 109 note 3 Ol iv, pl. XV, no. 247 = Lamb, G and R Bronzes, pl. XV c.

page 109 note 4 AM xxxi (1906), pl. XVIII.

page 109 note 5 An extremely summary account of the finds was published in Clara Rhodos i (1928), 72 ff.

page 109 note 6 See p. 108, n. 2.

page 110 note 1 Perrot-Chipiez iii, 869, fig. 636.

page 110 note 2 The practice of partially gilding silver may have been common from an early date in the seventh century, perhaps from its beginning. It is referred to in the description of Athene's transformation of Odysseus (Ʒ 232 ff.) and the Lapiths on the Shield of Herakles are described as (Scut. 183). Cf. Aleman I, 51–5 for the description of Hagesichora.

page 110 note 3 In Geometric art, with a few exceptions belonging to its latest phase, the male figure is represented as nude.

page 111 note 1 See, e.g., Β 388, Ε 796, Μ 401, Π 803.

page 111 note 2 ∧ 545.

page 111 note 3 Anab. vii, 4, 17.

page 111 note 4 Hence we may feel confident that (Aesch. S.c.Th. 315) = On apparent examples of the hoplite phalanx in Homer see Helbig, Ueber die Einführungszeit der geschlossenen Phalanx (KBay. Ak. Wiss. 1911).

page 111 note 5 Γ 358, Γ 252.

page 112 note 1 Φ 180; cf. Δ 525. When the fleeing Athamas (N 567–9) turned to confront his pursuer, Meriones, the latter Athamas had presumably flung his shield behind his back in retreat and was not quick enough in bringing it round again when he turned. He has his leather jerkin, so Meriones aims low.

page 112 note 2 Φ 560–2.

page 112 note 3 Wolf, Bewaffnung des altaegyptischen Heeres, 97–8 and figs. 67, 69 and 70.

page 112 note 4 Of the Late Bronze Age. Excavations in Cyprus, pl. I.

page 112 note 5 1891, pl. iii, 2.

page 112 note 6 ∧ 373–4. This is the only instance in Homer of a corslet being taken on the field of battle.

page 113 note 1 The only exception is the helmet with tall, forward-curving crest, evidently rigid, which, as has been said, begins late and continues into the seventh century.

page 113 note 2 Sprachliche Untersuchungen zu Homer, pp. 237 ff. W. regards προ - in this instance as analogous to τρυ - or τρα - in or Leaf's explanation that here describes a position of the Bronze Age body-shield, with the lower edge resting on the ground and slightly advanced, is less probable.

page 113 note 3 ; Cf. N 556–9.

page 114 note 1 Θ 67–8 and 161 ff.; cf. ∧ 594, ο 298, P 234.

page 114 note 2 Possibly the use of stone is an Anatolian touch. Mycenaean and Geometric buildings are of brick, which is never mentioned in Homer, sun-dried and on a base or pedestal of masonry.

page 114 note 3 Β 542 ff.

page 114 note 4 χ, I, 13.

page 114 note 5 Vit. Thes, v, 2.

page 114 note 6 Strabo x, i, 12.

page 115 note 1 Plut. Qu. Gr. 298.

page 115 note 2 The references to published reproductions, not all of them satisfactory, are as follows: (a) European, i.e., ‘self’ bows, Argive Heraeum ii, pl. LVII, 10 and 13; Graef. Vasen der Akropolis, pl. X, 291; Fouilles de Delphes V, 138, fig. 538. (b) Asiatic, i.e., composite bows; Pottier, Vases du Louvre iii, pl. XX, A 519; AZ 1885, pl. VIII, i; Bull. Met. Mus. xxix, 170, fig. 1; Eph. Arch. 1898, pl. V, 1 and 1 a. To the above must now be added certain examples cited in Chamoux, M. François's article in RA cxxiv (1945), 55 ffGoogle Scholar. They occur on sherds of Attic Geometric in the Louvre, either unpublished or reproduced in works not easily accessible. In Pottier's Catalogue they are numbered A 528 (Chamoux p. 83, fig. 7, Scythian), A 530 (ibid., fig. 6, zone of alternate warriors with hour-glass shields and archers with what appear to be Scythian bows. These additions bring the Scythian form into marked predominance.

page 117 note 1 This is implied in Thuc. vi, 43, where a small number of the archers employed is stated to be Cretan.

page 117 note 2 Lamb, pi. xix. It is difficult to see why Bulanda, Bogen und Pfeil bei den Völkern desalien Orients, should on p. 64 classify this bow as single stave and on p. 83 claim the Eleusis examples as composite.

page 117 note 3 iii, 3, 7 and 4, 17.

page 117 note 4 Frühe griechische Sagenbilder, 12, fig. 1.

page 117 note 5 Op. cit., pl. 6.

page 117 note 6 Op. cit., pi. 14.

page 117 note 7 E.g., Γ79–80, Ο 313, Π 361 and 773.

page 117 note 8 Β 773–5, 1 156.

page 117 note 9 Thuc. vi, 69, 2.

page 118 note 1 On the structure of the composite bow see Balfour, H., The Archer's Bow in the Homeric Poems (JAI 1921, 289 ff.).Google Scholar

page 118 note 2 x, i, 12.

page 118 note 3 x, i, 10.

page 119 note 1 Γ 271–2 = Τ 252–3.

page 119 note 2 Pottier, iii, pl. 20; Hampe, FgS, 88, fig. 31. On the vases the sword is generally of moderate length; occasionally it is very long; Schweitzer, Herakles, Abb. 24, and an unpublished amphora in Athens, no. 12896. An actual specimen of Geometric date from Athens, nearly perfect, in the Ashmolean Museum, measures 70 cm.: intact, it was c. 73 cm. in length.

page 119 note 3 Pfuhl, MuZ 85.

page 119 note 4 Hampe, op. cit., nos, 28, 29 and 134, pls. 14 and 15 and p. 25, fig. 6.

page 119 note 5 NC, pl. 7.

page 119 note 6 JdI lii (1937), Olympiabericht, pl. 28.

page 119 note 7 Ep. Rei Mil. i, 12. It may be noted however that Iphicrates when he reduced the size of the shield increased the length of the spear by half and nearly doubled that of the sword. Cf., Diod. xv, 44, 3.

page 120 note 1 Hampe, op. cit., pls. 15 and 16, no. 105.

page 120 note 2 Pol. 1289 b.

page 120 note 3 Fr. 81 D:

page 120 note 4 vii, 74.

page 120 note 5 In the case of the Phrygians this is remarkable, for on the enamelled bricks found at Pazarli and dated by the excavators not earlier than the latter part of the seventh century hoplites are represented. Hamit Kosay, Les Fouilles de Pazarli (Ankara 1941).

page 120 note 6 Fr. 1, 5 and 14 (Diels 4). As late as the reign of Alyattes the main strength of the Kolophonians was still in their cavalry (Polyaen. Strat. 2, 2) but this does not of course prove thatthey had no hoplite force.

page 120 note 7 Herod, ii, 152.

page 121 note 1 B 543–4.

page 121 note 2 Frs. viii, 35–8, vii, 1. Diels.2

page 121 note 3 Thus Pindar uses the word (Isthm. vii, 35).

page 122 note 1 Antimachi Colophonii Reliquiae (Wyss), p. 83, 11, 27–8.

page 122 note 2 The shields depicted on the Tiryns votives however are decidedly basin-like (PL. 18A a).

page 122 note 3 Hermes liii (1918) 1 ff.

page 122 note 4 Textgeschichte der griechischen Lyriker, 114.

page 124 note 1 Diod. xv, 44, 2. When Iphikrates reduced the size of the shield and introduced a pelle of moderate dimensions, the change was widely accepted and the name of peltast replaced that of hoplite. In Herodotus' account of the arms of the host of Xerxes the Anatolian contingents, whose armature had probably changed little if at all since the seventh century, are repeatedly stated to have had small shields; the hoplite shield must have been Herodotus' standard of size. See vii, 72, 74, 76, 78 and 79.

page 124 note 2 Münchener archaeologische Studien, 451, figs. 21–2; Nierhaus, , JdI liii (1938), 96, fig. 2Google Scholar; cf. Hampe, FgS, 27, V 42. The abnormal length of a shield on an Attic Geometric vase (AM xxviii, 1903, pl. iii; Pfuhl, MuZ, 14) is due to bad drawing. The knees of the subject are plainly visible below the shield and above a pair of remarkably short shins.

page 124 note 3 O 677. Cf. the hunter on the Lion-hunt dagger-blade.

page 124 note 4 Pfuhl, MuZ iii, 65.

page 125 note 1 It goes back in fact in all essentials to the Bronze Age; see the L.H. Ill sherd with a ship painted on it found at Pylos (Koryphasion). Only the animal's head is lacking to make this resemblance complete, and it is by no means universally present pn ships in Geometric and archaic vase-painting. See Koster, Das antike Seewesen, 64, fig. 18 and cf. the illustrations between pp. 86 and 87; Eph. Arch. 1914, 108–9, figs. 14–15.

page 125 note 2 Hampe, op. cit., pl. 4, no. 62 a.

page 125 note 3 BSA xxxv, 173, pl. 40 b.

page 126 note 1 So., e.g., Idomeneus when he ducks to avoid the spear of Deiphobos, Ν 405–8; cf. Υ 278.

page 126 note 2 A possible exception is to be found on a minute Geometric sherd found at Delphi (Fouilles de Delphes v, 38, fig. 538), but the scale is too small and the part of the composition preserved too fractional to allow of any certain conclusion. If the fragmentary archer is seeking shelter behind the shield of his equally fragmentary companion, one would be inclined, as in the case of the Boeotian amphora at Munich, to see the influence of epic.

page 127 note 1 E.g., by the Mysians (Herod, vii, 74), who are armed with the This was also the weapon of the peltast: Xen. Mem. iii, 9, 2. Such humble shields might, as we have seen, be mere wicker work.

page 127 note 2 Thuc. vi, 79.

page 127 note 3 AO, pls. XV and XVI. Here, as on a Corinthian aryballos found at Delos (Délos x, 137, fig. 3) the slinger supports from the rear a ‘hoplite’ who carries the archaistic ‘Boeotian’ shield; i.e., in both cases the scene is stamped as heroic.

page 127 note 4 Xen. Hell, iv, 2, 16.

page 128 note 1 91 B, 81 D.

page 128 note 2 Ox. Pap. x, 106, 11. 28–36.

page 128 note 3 i, 171.

page 129 note 1 See Leaf, Iliad, I2, 570, fig. 8.

page 129 note 2 Op. cit., 569, fig. 3.

page 129 note 3 402–6. We have no clue to his immediately preceding movements since he has been lost sight of since his colloquy with Hector at the end of the preceding book (N 809 ff.). Obviously the bodyshield is behind his back, as we see it on the Lion-hunt dagger-blade.

page 129 note 4 ii, 141. Aeneas Tacticus (xxix, 12) describes how men, making arms in secret, plaited shields of wickerwork and adds Hunter, ad loc., calls attention to the leather thong which is sometimes shewn in vase-paintings looped round the shield on the inner face just within the rim. Unfortunately he calls this the following Jebb's note on Ajax, 575, which is apparently the source of the error (cf. Pearson on Phoin. 1127); and reserves for the diametric bar which in r.f. vase-painting generally runs vertically across the shield and in which the proper, the arm-band, is set. It is inconceivable that should describe the affixing of the two ends of this bar. With regard to the leather thong, it is plain that in the case of the hoplite shield only one loop could serve as a handle, the one, namely, at that end of the diameter at right angles to the which when grasped by the hand would bring the blazon right side up; to grasp that at the other end would place the blazon upside down, and the would prevent any other from being grasped at all. In the case of the improvised shields of which Aeneas is writing the second loop could be used; but two points on the circumference are not enough to justify The conclusion that the text is corrupt is inevitable; the simplest emendation is Meineke's

The use of the leather thong is not obvious. The knots, which are generally distinctly rendered, may have served to attach the blazon when it was inserted in a wooden shield, as was the case in a number of archaic shields found in the recent German excavations at Olympia; or alternatively they may have fastened a lining of leather to the metal face. Nor is the presence of the thong by any means invariable. For examples of its absence see the shield of Achilles on the Iliupersis vase of Brygos (Pfuhl, MuZ, 419) and that of the wounded Greek second from the right on the Forman lebes (op. cit. 508 a). The central figure in an Amazonomachia (op. cit. 506) has a thong on his shield, but it forms a small circle and has no connection with the just inside the rim.

It may be noted that is also used in the Oxyrhynchus chrestomathy It is conceivable that the object of the thong was to provide material on a campaign for a new if one wore out, in which case περιτιθέναι could be used of the thong, which might be regarded as potential On the whole it seems preferable to suppose that we have here the same corruption of into

There is no explanation of the fact that the Attic form is and not as we might expect, The suggestion sometimes made that the term was borrowed from Laconian lacks support, since in classical Attic formations from regularly have a (Aesch. PV 61; Eur. El. 820; HF 959).

page 130 note 1 For actual specimens from Olympia see JdI lii (1937), Olympiabericht, 57 and fig. 24, p. 56. Cf. Bacchylides fr. 4 (ap.vet.scr.servata), 8–9,

page 130 note 2 Cf. Polyb. xviii, 29 for an account of the phalanx armed with the sarisa. Homer (N 131 ff.) is quoted as apposite.

page 130 note 3 ἡ λαβὴ τοῦ ὁπλου· ὁ ἀνοχεὑς τῆς ἀσπἰδος εἰς ὀ ὁ πη̃χυς ἀνίεται.

page 130 note 4 Phoen. 1127 conveys no information, and as the Rhesus is post-Euripidean, 1. 384 does not concern us here.

page 131 note 1 JdI lii (1937), Olympiabericht, 52–3.

page 131 note 2 Schol, on Thuc. i, 8, 1; Pliny NH vii, 200.

page 131 note 3 De Nat. An. xii, 30.

page 131 note 4 Boxer Vase, P of M I, 688, 690, figs. 508 and 511; funerary vase, op. cit. III, 310, fig. 198.

page 131 note 5 Op. cit. III, 313, fig. 205.

page 131 note 6 22 B, 58 D.

page 131 note 7 We may also remember the tall forward-curving crest of the bronze figurine from Olympia and of the miniature votives from Praisos.

page 132 note 1 On a seventh-century ivory plaque from the Orthia site (AO, pl. cviii) a warrior who wears a plate-corslet and greaves has an “Attic” helmet with a very tall stilted crest, but he can hardly be other than a heroic figure.

page 132 note 2 Pfuhl, MuZ, 218 and 219.

page 132 note 3 I.e., the Argives; Anth. Pal. xiv, 73.

page 132 note 4 See BSA viii, pl. X and p. 258, and cf. Ol iv, pl. LX, p. 158. A fine, full-size mitre was found by the Italians at Axos in Crete. It is now at last published by Levi, Annuario xiii–xiv, pl. 13; AJA 1945, 295.

page 132 note 5 JdlXxi (1937), Olympiabericht, 54, pl. 5, left.

page 132 note 6 Ol iv, 161, pl. LXI, no. iooi; on pl. LX an elaborate sixth-century specimen in the Berlin Museum is reproduced.

page 132 note 7 Gervasio, Bronzi e ceramica di Bari, pl. XVI.

page 133 note 1 BSA xxxv, pl. 54 e and p. 185.

page 133 note 2 Deltion 1916, pl. A; Lamb, G and R Bronzes, pl. 28 b, p. 85. Cf. the magnificent pair worn by a fragmentary figure by πῆχυς ἀνιστοι on a sherd from the Acropolis, Pfuhl, MuZ 240.

page 133 note 3 Ol iv, pl. LX, no. 996, p. 160.

page 134 note 1 By Hampe; see FgS, 81.

page 134 note 2 This type of helmet occurs in the Bronze Age, in the later phase of LH III, a period in which certain traces of Near Eastern influence become apparent; see MV pl. XL, nr. 422, perhaps also Reichel, Homerische Waffen 2, 109, fig. 50, on which the curve is reversed. A similar helmet appears on a very crude sub-Geometric sherd from Sparta; see BSA xxviii, 57, fig. 4 and xxxiv, 121, pl. XXIII. Mr. Lane suggests that the profile of the head indicates Semitic influence. A terra-cotta statuette of a warrior found in Cyprus is similarly equipped; see SCE ii, pl. 204. There are also examples on Geometric Bronze figurines, mostly of charioteers; they wear them with the curve backwards, as is natural, since they have to meet a rush of wind.

page 135 note 1 Schliemann, Tiryns, pl. XXIII a; Pfuhl MuZ iii, 23 B.

page 135 note 2 See, e.g., Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum, pls. XXVII, XXVIII, XXX.

page 135 note 3 A ὀ Λυδός is shown in a series of bronze figurines from Olympia (eighth to sixth century) published by Kunze in Antike und Abendland ii, ioi ff., figs. 9–13, and representing according to him Zeus in the character of a warrior, with tall peaked helmet and ζωστήρ.

page 135 note 4 So Buschor, see Kunze, Gott. Gel. Anz. 1937, 296. The balance of probability favours Hampe's view, for in the immediately succeeding period identifiable mythological scenes are drawn mainly from the Cycle:—Paris shooting at Achilles, sup. figs. 7 and 9 d; the rape of Helen and the Dioscuri coming to the rescue, probably narrated in the Cypria, VS pl. 22, 1 c; the suicide of Ajax, VS pl. 23, 2 a; the Judgment of Paris, VS pl. 40 c Bellerophon and the Chimaera, presumably from the Iliad, VS pl. 30, 2 b and 35, 3 a. There is no example of Heracles in an Amazonomachy, and the combat with Hippolyte first occurs in Late Archaic vase-painting.

page 136 note 1 Cf. the swordsman in the neck-panel of the Hymettus amphora, fig. 4 sup.

page 136 note 2 On B the lower end of the sheath is straight-edged, as is that of the swordsman on the body of the Hymettus amphora, fig. 4 sup. The rounded end of Achilles' scabbard however does not lack parallels; see Pfuhl, MuZ iii, 17; Hampe, Frühe griechische Sagenbilder, pl. 23, and fig. 1 b sup. For analogous treatment of a sword which would be partly invisible, see that with which Ajax commits suicide on a proto-Corinthian aryballos, VS pl. 33, 2 a and p. 144.

page 137 note 1 Layard, Mon. of Nineveh, i, pl. 28; Nuoffer, Der Rennwagen im Altertum, pl. 6, nr. 25.

page 137 note 2 See, e.g., Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum, pls. XXVII, XXVIII, XXX.

page 137 note 3 Ibid., pls. XVII, 2, XVIII and XXIII, 2. An other example of the bird of prey in Geometric art appears on an amphora of the latest phase (c. 700) in the British Museum. Oriental traits are multiplying; in the neck-panel a somewhat lifeless lion lays one paw on a recumbent deer. The only touch of vivacity is furnished by a bird of prey which from the upper corner behind the lion swoops towards the prospective feast. Add now the works of the Vulture Painter, p. 139 below and Fig. 2, and the bird flying over Paris in Fig. 9d above.

page 138 note 1 Pottier, Vases du Louvre A 519; cf. A 527.

page 138 note 2 Köster, Das antike Seewesen, figs, 21 and 24, between pp. 86 and 87. See also Chamoux, F., École de la grande amphore du Dipylon, RA ccxiv, 1945, 93, fig. 9 and 86, fig. 8Google Scholar. I regret that M. Chamoux's article reached me only when my own was already in page proof; it contains an interesting analysis of Attic Geometric style; see especially the discussion of the remarkable sherd fig. 7, p. 83. For a casualty in a naval battle who has fallen into the water, see p. 81, fig. 6, A 529.

page 138 note 3 L. W. King, Bronze Reliefs from the Gates of Shal-manezer.

page 138 note 4 SCE ii, 79 ff., pl. XIX.