Hoplite training & symbolism

In ancient Greece, the warrior culture was central to society. In this blog, we explore how Greek warriors such as hoplites were trained and from which perspective we should view these warriors. Additionally, you will discover what this has to do with the large amount of nudity seen on Greek sculptures and other art. 

First, an important point: the Greeks did not have homogeneous military training as we know it today. Most warriors of the Greek city-states were not full-time military. The degree of military training varied greatly per person and per city-state. Sparta was an exception and was known for scalable full-time military training. 

The Greek warrior culture from which the hoplite emerged was much older than the Greeks themselves. They inherited it from the Mycenaean culture of the bronze Age, which, like the Celts, Germanic tribes and most other European peoples originated from the Proto-Indo-European steppe herders. Just like the language, traditions, and religion of the Greeks, their warrior culture also emerged from this Proto-Indo-European culture. Therefore, it is important to take a look at the common origin of European ideas about warriors and their position in society.

In the Proto-Indo-European cosmic creation story, Manu sacrifices his twin brother Yemu and creates the world and the three classes of humanity from his body: the warrior class, priest class, and working class; thus he became the first king.

The sky god granted Manu’ss people herds of cattle, but this livestock was stolen by a malevolent three-headed monster. The legendary hero Trito reclaimed the cattle with the help of the storm god. Through his martial and raiding skills, the cattle could be used to feed the people. A portion of the war spoils was offered by Manu to the sky father; in this way, humanity would maintain the reciprocal relationship with the gods. The importance of the warrior class to protect and feed society is thus clearly depicted in this story.

From this also arose the cultural phenomenon that warriors exclusively belong to the warrior class, which also forms the aristocracy; for example, consider how the privilege of male citizenship (politeia) was linked to martial skill in ancient Greece. These principles of warrior culture from the Copper and bronze Age ages are important to place Greek and later Roman warrior culture in a broader social character. As in all other cultures that emerged from the Indo-European culture, a warrior was part of a privileged class, who had to be able to fight and raid so that his community could survive. 

The aforementioned martial culture had a fascination with individual heroism and martial arts. In Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey from the eighth century BC, individual heroic deeds of the warrior class are strongly emphasized. These Greek myths have many similarities with other epic hero stories such as the Vedic Mahābhārata. Both narrative corpora likely had a Proto-Indo-European origin and are based on a much older oral tradition.

Individual heroic deeds were central to Proto-Indo-European martial cultures, but to wage war constructively and on a scalable level, all these achievement-oriented warriors had to be able to cooperate in military formations such as the Greek phalanx. This required a different way of thinking; the individualistic mindset had to give way to an identity of collective heroism, as part of the combat formation.

The Greek martial culture emphasized more aspects of training and development for warriors than just the physical; a warrior had to be healthy in both body and mind and actively maintain both. Thus, the philosopher Heraclitus theorized in the fifth century BC that both aspects of a person influence each other. The philosopher Plato had a famous saying in which he articulated the ideal balance for warriors and citizens:

"He who is only an athlete is too coarse, too wild and too barbaric. He, who is only a scholar, is too weak and gentle. The ideal citizen is a scholar-athlete, the man of thoughts and the man of actions."

To keep the warrior class in shape, the first sports as we know them were developed. Greek sports found their origin in the concept that physical energy could be used in a ritualistic way.

The earliest evidence of athletic tradition in the Greek world comes from artistic representations from the late bronze Age, such as from the island of Crete and Thera, and archaic literary texts. The Minoan culture centered on Crete engaged in gymnastics, with bull-leaping, tumbling, running, wrestling, and boxing depicted on their frescoes s. The Mycenaeans adopted Minoan games and also raced with chariots in religious or funeral ceremonies. Sport was also practiced in this way by other Proto-Indo-European peoples such as the Persians and Vedic people, as well as by the ancient Egyptians.

In the aforementioned Iliad, there are chariot races, boxing, wrestling, a running race, but also fencing, archery, and javelin throwing mentioned. The Odyssey adds long jumping and discus throwing to this.

The Olympic Games, in which the entire Greek world participated every year, were held in Olympia from 776 BC. These consisted of various sports disciplines that mainly revolved around strength, endurance, and military skills. Over time, more sports were added.

The Ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia in honor of Zeus and traditionally date from 776 BC. The statue of Zeus in Olympia was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Winners received an olive wreath and gained fame for themselves and their city, which was very important in Greek culture. 

Besides sports, there were many religious celebrations: many Indo-European cultures, such as the Greeks, saw religion and martial arts as inherently connected and made no distinction between the religious and warrior classes to which the aristocracy belonged. This religious celebration may have developed from the ritualization of martial acts. A remarkable sign of this is that the Olympic athletes participated naked, just like in initiation rituals into the warrior class. This can be linked to the tradition that warriors in Celtic and some other Indo-European cultures fought exclusively naked, sometimes except for their belt. 

The Olympic Games originally consisted of the following events, each with a clear military character. 

Stadion Race (στάδιον, stadion) – A sprint of approximately 192 meters (one stadium length). This was the only event in the first Olympic Games.

Diaulos (δίαυλος) – A double stadion race (approximately 384 meters).

Dolichos (δόλιχος) – A long-distance race, ranging from 7 to 24 stadium lengths (approximately 1,400 – 4,800 meters).

Pale (πάλη) – Wrestling, where the opponent had to be thrown to the ground three times to win.

Pankration (παγκράτιον) – A combination of wrestling and boxing, similar to modern MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), where almost everything was allowed except biting, eye gouging, and disemboweling (digging).

Pyx (πυγμή) – Boxing, where athletes wore gloves (usually with straps) and won by knockout or submission.

Pentathlon (πένταθλον, pentathlon) – A combination of five disciplines:

Long Jump (ἅλμα, halma) – Athletes jumped with weights (halters) in their hands to gain momentum.

Javelin Throw (ἀκόντιον, akontion) – Throwing a spear with a leather loop for extra precision and power.

Discus Throw (δίσκος, diskos) – Throwing a stone, bronze, or lead discus.

Chariot Racing (ἁρματοδρομία, harmatodromia) – Spectacular races with two-wheeled chariots, drawn by horses, over a long distance in the hippodrome.

Horse Racing (κέλης, keles) – Races with riders without saddles.

Hoplitodromos (ὁπλιτόδρομος) – A race where athletes wore full armor, including a shield and sometimes a helmet and greaves.

The hoplitodromos (race of the hoplites) was the last running event added to the Olympic Games, first held during the 65th Olympiad in 520 BC, and was traditionally organized as the last running event.

In this race, participants were required to run in full hoplite armor (hopla), which consisted of a helmet, greaves, and a heavy shield (aspis). Furthermore, the participants were naked. Their equipment was estimated to weigh about 15 kg, which was lighter than a full armor set with spear and cuirass/linothorax, which could weigh a total of 36 kg. After 450 BC, the greaves were abolished, but the helmet and the shield remained a significant burden. 

In Olympia and Athens, the hoplitodromos consisted of one lap of the stadium, or two stades (approximately 350-400 meters). Since the course ended with a sharp turn, there was a turning point (kampter) to help the runners make the turn, which was made extra difficult by the heavy shield in their left hand. In Nemea, the distance was four stades (approximately 700-800 meters), while the race in Plataea (Boeotia) was as long as 15 stades (2500-3000 meters)!

Greek hoplites had to train in rapid charges to minimize the time they were exposed to enemy arrows. This became especially relevant after the first encounters with Persian archers, shortly before the hoplitodromos was introduced in 520 BC. Moreover, the original length of 400 meters corresponded with the effective shooting range of the Persian archers. 

The gymnasium in Ancient Greece was a training facility for participants in public games. Additionally, it served as a social meeting place and a center for intellectual activities. Only adult male citizens were allowed to use the gymnasium. The word gymnasium is the Latin form of the Greek gymnásion, which means "public place for physical exercises" or generally "school." This is derived from the Greek adjective gymnos, meaning "naked," and the related verb gymnazo, which means "to train naked," "to practice gymnastics," or generally "to train."

Athletes trained naked, which was seen as a way to appreciate the beauty of the male body and as a tribute to the gods. Gymnasia and palaestrae (wrestling schools) were under the protection of Heracles, Hermes, and in Athens also of Theseus. Athletes undressed in special dressing rooms, rubbed their bodies with olive oil, and cleaned themselves with a strigil after training. Historically, the gymnasium was used for physical exercise, communal baths, and scientific and philosophical activities.

Male nudity was celebrated in ancient Greece more than in any other culture before or after. Shedding everyday clothing for athletic nudity emphasized the status of masculinity, strength, and physical virtues. Nudity became a ritual costume by associating the naked body with combat readiness and beauty, thus representing the cosmic order. Nudity and an athletic build were also symbols of aristocracy, as only the wealthiest citizens could afford to train their bodies. These citizens turned their own bodies into status symbols and were eager to show off the results of their hard work.

Hesiod, the author of the poem Theogony, which describes the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods in ancient Greek religion, suggested that farmers "should sow naked, plow naked, and harvest naked if they wanted to gather Demeter's fruits at the right time." This suggests that male nudity also stood for fertility. However, the hard work on Greek land required work clothing that protected the body, so this had exclusively a ritual connotation.

Sparta had strict training rules (agoge) and physical exercise was performed naked. Athletes participated naked in public sporting events. As mentioned earlier, people also exercised naked in the other city-states.

Female nudity was depicted by the Greeks in a completely different manner than the athletic and heroic depictions of naked men. In Sparta, women also trained in athletics during the Classical Period. However, they probably did not participate naked in sports or competitions. Women did often appear naked during public religious processions and festivals. This practice was intended in Sparta to promote combativeness among men while they were on the warpath and to stimulate appreciation for health and fertility. The Greeks also believed that the female body was connected to the important goddesses they worshipped.

The Pyrrhichios or Pyrrhike dance was the most famous war dance of the ancient Greeks. It likely had a Doric origin and was used exclusively as training for war. According to ancient sources, it was a weapon dance. According to a tradition passed down by Aristotle, the dance originated during the siege of Troy, when Achilles danced around the pyre of his beloved Patroclus.

Plato describes the dance as an imitation of quick movements to evade attacks and combat enemies. It was danced to the rhythm of the aulos (wind instrument) and had a light and fast tempo, as also indicated by the metrical foot pyrrhichius.

The dance was described by Xenophon in his work, the Anabasis. In it, he writes that the Pyrrhic dance was performed during a banquet in Kotyora, where Greek and Paphlagonian troops settled their disputes. A remarkable moment was when a female dancer performed the Pyrrhic dance with a shield, which elicited great amazement and applause from the Paphlagonians. They asked if women also fought in the troops, to which the Greeks ironically replied that they had driven the king from their camp.

The Spartans loved this dance and saw it as military training. Therefore, they taught their children the dance from a young age. In Athens, youths performed the Pyrrhic dance in the palaestra as part of their gymnastics training. The dance was also performed during the Panathenaic Games, where there were three categories of participants: men, youths, and boys.

The martial culture was deeply rooted in Ancient Greek society. This tradition led to the development of sports and even to the veneration of the (trained) body as we can see in the many art forms of the classical world.