Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece (45 page)

    
7
. Eur.
Heracl
. 375–76,
Supp
. 694–96;
Cyc
. 5–8,
Tro
. 1192–93; Ar. fr. 65. All these are metonymical uses where
itea
is simply used for
aspis
.

    
8
. See, e.g.,
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-109.html
(at table 1; accessed 02.09.2011).

    
9
. Blyth (1982) 9–13.

  
10
. Rieth (1964) 108 (citing Robinson who in fact only says “crossing pieces of wood,” however: Robinson [1941] 444).

  
11
. The situation, as illustrated by Blyth, can easily be imagined: if the shield bearer charged (or was charged by) two enemies at the same time, the shield might as well be caught between their shield edges as hit either frontally (Blyth [1982] 17 fig. 6).

  
12
. Hdt. 4.200.2–3; Xen.
Lac. Pol
. 11.3; Aen. Tact. 37.6–7; Polyaen. 1.45.2, 7.8.1; Cartledge (1977) 12–13. See, however, Snodgrass (1964a) 63–64. The Bomarzo shield’s remains of wood and leather were found inside its
chalkōma
: Blyth (1982) 1, 12; Rieth (1964) 101, 106.

  
13
. Blyth (1982) 5–6.

  
14
. Blyth (1982) 12; Cahn (1989) 16; Robinson (1941) 444. Another suggestion is that the leather increased comfort for the bearer, both when the shield was hung on the shoulder and when he pressed against it and cowered inside it during combat.

  
15
. Rieth (1964) 108. Rieth also mentions the finding of a shield at Olynthos: remains of wood, circumscribed by a bronze
itys
.

  
16
. Kunze and Schleif (1938) 70–74; Shear (1937) 347; Rieth (1964) 101. Cf. Paus. 1.15.4.

  
17
. If
r
= 45 cm, then
A
= p × 452 = 6,362 cm
²
.

  
18
. Arr.
An
. 1.19.4: ἔνθα οἱ Μιλήσιοί τε καὶ οἱ μισθοφόροι πανταχόθεν ἤδη προσκειμένων σφίσι τῶν Μακεδόνων οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ῥιπτοῦντες σφᾶς ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀσπίδων ὑπτίων ἐς νησῖδά τινα ἀνώνυμον τῇ πόλει ἐπικειμένην διενήχοντο, οἱ δὲ ἐς κελήτια ἐμβαίνοντες καὶ ἐπειγόμενοι ὑποφθάσαι τὰς τριήρεις τῶν Μακεδόνων ἐγκατε λήφ θησαν ἐν τῷ στόματι τοῦ λιμένος πρὸς τῶν τριήρων·οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει ἀπώ λοντο.

  
19
. I am very grateful to John R. Hale for pointing out the significance of this passage to me.

  
20
. See the “Physiology” section below.

  
21
. I am indebted to Christian Tortzen, Sebastian Persson, and Claus Glunk for these calculations.

  
22
. Blyth (1982) 16.

  
23
. Rieth (1964) 101. Donlan and Thompson (1976) 341 n. 4 give this measurement as the average weight of the shields in Olympia.

  
24
. Cahn (1989) 15.

  
25
. Xen.
Hell
. 3.1.9.

  
26
. See especially Hornblower (2002).

  
27
. Franz (2002) 269–70, criticizing Hanson (2000) 67; but see also Schwertfeger (1982) 263 n. 34: “Daß der schwere Hoplitenschild eine Last war, geht aus dem spartanischen Recht der klassischen Zeit hervor, wo der König im Rahmen seiner Disziplinargewalt gegen ungehorsame Soldaten die Strafe des ‘Stehens mit dem Schild’ verhängen konnte” (that the heavy hoplite shield was a burden is also evident from Spartan law of the Classical period, where the king, as part of his disciplinary measures, could punish disobedient soldiers with ‘standing with the shield’ ”).

  
28
. Xen.
Hell
. 3.1.9: ὃ δοκεῖ κη λὶς εἶναι τοῖς σπουδαίοις Λακεδαιμονίων.

  
29
. Cf. LSJ 9th ed. s.v. κηλίς.

  
30
. Plut.
Arist
. 23.2: τοῖς τε γὰρ ἄρχουσι τῶν συμμάχων ἀεὶ μετ’ ὀργῆς ἐνετύγχανε καὶ τραχέως, τούς τε πολλοὺς ἐκόλαζε πληγαῖς, ἢ σιδηρᾶν ἄγκυραν ἐπιτιθεὶς ἠνάγκαζεν. ἑστάναι δι’ ὅλης τῆς ἡμέρας (trans. Perrin, modified).

  
31
. Greek literature is rife with Spartans either exacting or threatening physical punishment: the sources are collected in Hornblower (2002) 57–60.

  
32
. Xen.
An
. 3.4.47–49: oὐκ ἐξ ἴσου, ὦ Ξενοφῶν, ἐσμέν· σὺ μὲν γὰρ ἐφ’ ἵππου ὀχῇ, ἐγὼ δὲ χαλεπῶς κάμνω τὴν ἀσπίδα φέρων (trans. Warner, modified). See also Lendle (1995) 187.

  
33
. See, e.g., Greenhalgh (1973) 73; Salmon (1977) 85 n.6; Krentz (1985) 60–61; van Wees ed. (2000) 126; Rawlings (2000) 246–49.

  
34
. See especially Hanson (1991) 68–69, (2000) 68; and cf. Franz (2002) 132; van Wees (2000) 128; (2004) 167–69. Van Wees’s sample of illustrations (figs. 3, 4a, 6, and 10) demonstrate the posture clearly.

  
35
. I have corresponded with the UK-based Hoplite Association (
http://www.hoplites.co.uk/
), a reenactment group whose members have kindly (and patiently) answered my questions. I am also grateful to Nino Luraghi, who, having actually tried on a replica, emphasized to me the impossibility of holding a modern replica of a hoplite shield, except with bent arm and supported on the shoulder.

  
36
. Diod. Sic. 5.34.5: “The bravest among the Iberians are those known as Lusitanians, who carry in war quite small shields which are interwoven with cords of sinew and are able to protect the body unusually well, because they are so tough; and shifting this shield easily as they do in their fighting, now in this direction, now in that, they expertly ward off from the body every blow which comes at them” (τῶν δ’ ᾿Ιβήρων ἀλκιμώτατοι μέν εἰσιν οἱ καλούμενοι Λυσιτανοί, φοροῦσι δ’ ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις πέλτας μικρὰς παντελῶς, διαπεπλεγμένας νεύροις καὶ δυναμένας σκέπειν τὸ σῶμα περιττό¬τερον διὰ τὴν στερεότητα· ταύτην δ’ ἐν ταῖς μάχαις μεταφέροντες εὐλύτως ἄλλοτε ἄλλως ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος διακρούονται φιλοτέχνως πᾶν τὸ φερόμενον ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς βέλος [trans. Old-father, modified]).

  
37
. See also, e.g.,
www.fotosearch.com/DGV464/766019/
(accessed 02.09.2011) for a photo of unspecified police riot control forces holding round shields, or
http://www.securityprousa.com/pabsleglbosh.html
(accessed 02.09.11) for a round Paulson BS-6 Lexan Gladiator Body Shield, manufactured by Paulson Riot Equipment.

  
38
. Such a rationale must be behind, e.g., Blyth’s assurance regarding the Bomarzo shield. In Blyth’s assessment, “the total is little more than the weight of a World War II rifle, a weapon which can be handled quite briskly by a trained man” (Blyth [1982] 17). For comparisons of this type to work, it is evident that ancient and modern men must be equal in terms of physical characteristics.

  
39
. Angel (1945) 284–85 and n. 25. The male skeletons dating from the Classical period—no more than three—are on average 165.4 cm high: Angel (1945) 324. Foxhall and Forbes (1982) 47 correctly warn against possible statistical insignificance due to the relatively small sample material. Insufficient though it may be, however, there is no better way to estimate bodily proportions of ancients, so the material at hand will simply have to suffice.

  
40
. Angel (1944) 334 table 2a.

  
41
. Angel (1944) 331 table 1.

  
42
. Garnsey (1999) 57–59 cites a number of analyses of ancient Roman skeletal material from, among other sites, Pompeii and Herculaneum. He circumspectly concludes that all that may be said for the average male height here is that it is “for the most part within the range 162–170 cm for men and 152–157 for women.”

  
43
. Foxhall and Forbes (1982) 47 n. 21.

  
44
. Teeth stemming from several skeletons excavated under the Stone Lion monument at Chaironeia (in all likelihood the human remains of Thebes’ “Sacred Band” elite force of three hundred hoplites, wiped out to a man during the battle there in 338) bear signs of linear enamel hypoplasia, an indicator of systemic stress during childhood; the reasons include severe malnutrition or illness. “The presence of these lines in multiple individuals indicates that even for the future military elite, childhood could at times be stressful in ancient Thebes”: Maria Liston (personal communication); and cf. Hanson (1999) 152–76.

  
45
. Donlan and Thompson (1976) 341 n. 4; the 170 cm apparently repeated in Stewart (1990) 1:75. Hanson posits some 1.67 m (Hanson 1991) 67–68 n. 14.

  
46
. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height
(accessed 02.09.2011). The figure given is the average of German, Dutch, British, and American males.

  
47
. 
http://www.halls.md/chart/men-weight-w.htm
(accessed 02.09.2011).

  
48
. Foxhall and Forbes (1982) and Garnsey (1999) 17–21 suggest that 70–75 percent of the total consumption consisted in cereals. A postwar survey carried out in Crete demonstrated that no less than 29 percent of the calorie intake was olive oil: Allbaugh, cited in Garnsey (1999) 19 n. 12. Even for heavyweight boxers it was a rare occurrence, apparently deserving of mention, to venture outside the staple diet: Harris (1966) 88–89 relates the few instances; cf. Waterlow (1989) 6–9. See also Henneberg and Henneberg (1998) 512–14; Wilkins and Hill (2006) 114–39, esp. 120–21.

  
49
. Carter (1998), (2006).

  
50
. Carter (1998) 5–22, (2006) 21–22, 40–42.

  
51
. Henneberg and Henneberg (1998) 503–37, at 504.

  
52
. Carter (2006) 41.

  
53
. Morter and Hall (1998) 449–54 with table 8.2 and graph 8.2; Carter (2006) 22.

  
54
. Hdt. 4.15.2 (referring to the χώρη); Carter (2006) 9–15. The Metapontine χώρα was large, covering approximately 20,000 ha (or 200 km
²
): Fischer-Hansen, Nielsen, and Ampolo (2004) 279–80.

  
55
. For Attica (otherwise probably the most urbanized of the Greek poleis) see, e.g., Thuc. 2.14; and cf. Arist.
Pol
. 1256a 35–40, where there is a list of possible occupations. Aristotle then
adds “The largest group of people, however, live off the land and off cultivated plants” (τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ζῇ καὶ τῶν ἡμέρων καρπῶν). The denotations and connotations of the word γεωργός are many and varied.

  
56
. Strangely, however, the ratio of buried females to males at Pantanello is almost 2:1, which is all the more puzzling as no predominantly male necropolis has been found on Metapontine territory: Henneberg and Henneberg (1998) 509; Carter (2006) 41–42.

  
57
. Surprisingly, these average height values are “the same as [those] for Italian peasants in southern Italy before World War II” (Carter [2006] 42; Henneberg and Henneberg [1998] 519–21 with tables 11.14 and 11.15, and 538–41 [appendix 11A.1]). Of other interesting information culled from the skeletons it may be mentioned that life expectancy was on average forty-one years for males, thirty-nine for females (Henneberg and Henneberg [1998] 509–14), and that there were found twelve cases of malaria and also—rather more surprisingly—signs in some individuals of antigens for
Treponema pallidum
, a form of syphilis (Jeske-Janicka and Janicki [1998] 557–59 [appendix 11A.5]). Moreover, there were high rates of dental hypoplasia, indicating either malnourishment or childhood disease, the latter being the likelier cause: Henneberg and Henneberg [1998] 517–19 and tables 11.10–13; Carter (2006) 42, and cf. above, n. 44.

  
58
. It is interesting, therefore, that when the Athenian relief force under Demosthenes put in at Metapontion in 413 on their way to Syracuse, they picked up a force consisting of no more than three hundred javelin throwers (and two ships): Thuc. 7.33.4–5. However, there may be more than meets the eye to the seemingly grudging assistance afforded Athens by Metapontion: see Hornblower (2008) 608–9.

  
59
. Xen.
Hell
. 6.4.17; [Arist.]
Ath. pol
. 53.4, cf.
IG
II 2nd ed. 1926.

  
60
. In Xen.
Hell
. 6.1.5, Jason of Pherai is made to boast of his well-trained, mercenary army: “[b]ut armies made up of citizens must include some men who are already past and some who have not yet reached their prime. And there are very few people in each city who keep constantly in good physical training. But no one serves in my mercenary army unless he can stand physical hardship as well as I can myself “ (ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν πόλεων στρατεύματα τοὺς μὲν προεληλυθότας ἤδη ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἔχει, τοὺς δ’ οὔπω ἀκμά ζοντας·· σωμασκοῦσί γε μὴν μάλα ὀλίγοι τινὲς ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει· παρ’ ἐμοὶ δὲ οὐδεὶς μισθοφορεῖ, ὅστις μὴ ἱκανός ἐστιν ἐμοὶἴσα πονεῖν [trans. Warner]).

  
61
. Hanson (2000) 90.

  
62
. Holoka (1997) 342; Hanson (20002) 89–95.

  
63
. Hdt. 7.229.1, 5.111; Xen.
An
. 4.2.20 (Xenophon’s personal
hypaspistēs
runs away with his shield, leaving him in a tight spot),
Hell
. 4.5.14, 4.8.39; Polyaen. 2.3.10; cf. Lazenby (1991) 89.

  
64
. Hdt. 7.40.1; Thuc. 2.79.5, 4.101.2, 7.78.2; Xen.
Hell
. 3.4.22,
Cyr
. 5.3.40, 6.3.4.

  
65
. Hdt. 1.62.3, 5.74.2, 9.52; Thuc. 2.2.4bis, 4.44.1, 4.68.3, 4.90.4, 4.91, 4.93.3, 5.74.2, 7.3.1, 7.83.5, 8.25.4, 8.93.1bis; Xen.
An
. 1.5.14, 1.5.17, 1.6.4, 1.10.16, 2.2.8, 2.2.21, 4.2.16, 4.3.17, 4.3.26, 5.2.8, 5.2.19, 5.4.11, 6.1.8, 6.5.3, 7.1.22bis,
Hell
. 2.4.5, 2.4.12, 3.1.23bis, 4.5.8, 5.2.40, 5.3.18, 5.4.8, 6.4.14, 7.3.9, 7.5.22; Diod. Sic. 11.5.4, 12.66.2, 14.105.2, 18.26.4, 18.61.1, 20.42.5, 20.88.8.

  
66
. Diod. Sic. 15.32.5; Polyaen. 2.1.2; Nep.
Chabr
. 1.1–2 (
obnixoque genu scuto
), and see Stylianou (1998) 297–98. The Athenians later erected a statue of Chabrias in just this position in the Agora, the base of which has probably been found: Arist.
Rhet
. 1411b 6–10; Nep.
Chabr
. 1.3; Anderson (1963) 411–13; Buckler (1972), esp. 474.