Aside from Rome, the classical Greek states make up one of my most favorite periods of history, and thier armies, so uniform, and yet so personalized, are, in my opinion, amoung the best dressed soldiers(assuming of coarse, that they happen to be wearing anything...
) and of coarse, the fact that early Roman warfare, and armour/weapon styles would have the same as that of Greece for a good portion of her early history,now then, lets get this party started... 
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Between the 7th and 3rd Centuries BC the Greeks gave the known world artistic, philosophical and scientific advances but also developed a form of warfare that would rule the roost until the time of Alexander. This was the Hoplite, a citizen-soldier defending his city and it's trade, settling in the far-flung regions of Asia and Africa and finally becoming the most sought after mercenary in the world.
Before 700BC Greek warfare had been similar to that in the rest of the East, nobles in chariots fighting heroic duels while the lesser followers made up the numbers and fought amongst themselves. The infantry contingents became more solid as time went on until it was they, not the mounted arm, that ruled the battlefields. This formation became known as the phalanx and would be the premier fighting style in the eastern Mediterranean for 400 years. As time went on and Hoplites met different peoples with varied fighting styles they adapted tactics to include an increased skirmishing arm until the heyday of the Hoplite was eclipsed first by the light troops that supported them and finally the pikes of the Makedon
Early and Late Periods: The Hoplite era began around 700BC and continued relatively unchanged for 250 years (when the `early' period is mentioned it refers to this time-span), from the mid-5th Century onwards there were changes in the composition of the armies and innovations in the tactics employed (this is referred to as the `later' period).
The Hoplite's Defences: The basic equipment of the Greek soldier changed little during this period although fashions in detail (e.g. helmet styles) came and went. The most immediately visible piece of kit was the shield known to the Greeks as the aspis (occasionally hoplon, which, from what I gather, actually means "tool"). It was around 1 metre in diameter with a flat rim and convex face. The shield was constructed of wood covered with cured leather; the rim was covered in bronze sheet as, usually, was the face. Behind the face was a bronze loop for the forearm and a cord handgrip. Around the inner rim was a knotted cord used for slinging the shield when not in use.
The bronze helmet, with or without a crest of dyed horsehair, was another ubiquitous feature. This changed shape and style from a type that completely enclosing the wearer's head and face in the early period to the lighter pilos helmet that only covered down to the ears.Cheek pieces could be integral and solid or hinged to allow more comfort. Bronze greaves were worn to protect the lower legs and were designed to "clip-on" utilising the natural spring of bronze sheet to hold them in place. They could be richly decorated and moulded but most Hoplites made do with a plain pair moulded to represent the musculature of the leg. In the early period thigh and upper arm armour of a similar type were sometimes worn but soon fell out of use probably because they restricted movement in combat.
The last piece of defensive equipment was the cuirass, in the early period this was made of a front and back plate moulded from bronze and held in place with side and shoulder straps. These ranged from relatively plain examples to highly worked pieces which reproduced the musculature of the torso in Classical style. As this "bell-cuirass" fell out of fashion the lighter but more intricate spolas came into fashion. This was a wrap-around armour which tied at the right side and had a yoke which was secured on the chest enclosing the body, at the waist was a wide belt section which was cut into pteurges ("feathers") to hang in strips to protect the lower abdomen to mid-thigh. The spolas was made of layers of linen or leather and, in the mid-period, could be reinforced with small bronze or iron scales. The material part was normally off-white but could occasionally be coloured as could the yoke, belt section and pteurges.
As mercenary bands came into their own in the later stages of the Hoplite period they might omit the spolas and just fight with shield, helmet and greaves, this does not seem to have effected their reputation or fighting prowess and shows that the best equipment is no substitute for motivation and high morale. This was in some ways a return to the earlier period when some Hoplites fought naked except for similar defensive equipment.
-It is interesting to note that this panoply has been deduced to have cost the equivalent of a modern-day family car, the individual paid for it not the city-state so this was not for the poor but the professional classes, meaning that, the middle class was now the backbone of the army, and therefore, as they controled the independence of the state, were in the position to demand more civil rights, which would of course lead to democracy
Hoplite Weapons: Throughout the period of Hoplite supremacy his main weapon was the long spear, around 9' long this had butt spike for balance (or a secondary weapon) and was bound with cord at the centre of balance. This is most often depicted as being used over-arm in a stabbing motion(not the modern dipiction of under arm stabbing) but could be thrust into the ground to receive cavalry charges.
During the early period Hoplites are shown carrying and throwing javelins in addition to the long spear. This practice may have died out as the phalanx became the primary formation and required individuals to be much closer together not allowing a run-up to cast a missile.
Side arms in the form of swords and long knives were carried, the latter particularly by Spartans. The sword stayed much less used than the spear but did undergo some development, the hoplite could choose from the cut-and-thrust straight version or a single-edged type called the kopis used in a downward slashing motion.
Hoplite shield blazons: This is mainlly for any unit makers out there, who for some reason might want to add on to the already extensive amount of quality hoplites made by Kryten. If one were to make a trojan war scen, i would suggest using hoplites for the champions(E.G. Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, and so on) and to use the early period descriptions
The early period saw the use of mythical beasts and creatures, birds, fish, dolphins and scenes from mythology. These would be the individual Hoplite's choice and no order would be particularly apparent. In the middle of the period the city-states began to introduce their own devices to identify their troops. Sparta is possibly the best known for it's use of the Greek letter lambda (`L' for Lacedaimon), other states used a design that was the first letter as well (Messenia and Sicyion for example). Thebes used a club, Mantinea a trident, Corinth the winged horse and the Boeotian League an archaic Greek shield (like the "violin" shields of the Persian Immortal Guards in shape). After the Peleponnesian Wars with the rise of the mercenary bands the designs became more geometric and less flamboyant utilising circles, stars and discs. As mentioned above the rim was always polished bronze, the centre of the shield could be bronze or leather which in turn might be painted a plain colour or left natural. A shield might have its centre painted and then a design painted over it for a more dramatic effect or it could be just painted directly onto the bronze. Not all shields would have blazons and these can make a good counterpoint for the more intricate designs of the wealthier Hoplites(e.g. the champions of an army).
Supporting Troops: Frontally an well-ordered phalanx was virtually unstoppable unless considerably outnumbered or faced by other Hoplites with a particularly high level of training and/or morale. However the flanks and rear of such a formation were extremely sensitive to disruption and needed protecting. This role was taken by skirmishers and cavalry, in the early period they were few in number and relatively ineffective retiring to the rear and flanks when the Hoplites clashed.
There were exceptions however, some Greek states came from mountainous areas and their armies contained a larger proportion of skirmishers while those from the Thessalian plains had considerable numbers of cavalry.
Skirmishers: The three types of armament for light troops were javelins, bows and slings, there were occasions when rocks and stones were thrown by hand but this was a somewhat desperate measure. The javelinman was the commonest skirmisher, they started out being raised from the poorest citizens, they would wear no armour and rarely have a shield (in common with all early skirmishers), they carried several light javelins and only occasionally any side-arms. As time went on a better equipped javelinman, the Peltast, developed from copying native Thracians and other hill peoples (the first Greek Peltasts were raised by Greek colonies on the Thracian coast). During the later period these increased in number and then, around 400BC, their equipment and armament became heavier to the extent that they would sometimes be found fighting in the battle-line in direct support of the phalanx.
Archery was never popular or widespread amongst the Greeks (it was viewed as a cowards way of fighting) but bowmen were present in Hoplite armies (the Athenians even hired Skythian bowmen at one point but these were used as an early `internal security' force more than on the field of battle) skirmishing at quite close range while ensuring they did not get into combat. One famous exception to this lack of interest in archery was the island of Crete. (In) Famous for their piratical tendencies the Cretans became some of the most sought after mercenaries in the Classical world because of their skill and training with the bow. There are references to them carrying shields and swords and occasionally engaging in hand-to-hand combat
The sling was the weapon of the peasantry throughout the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the East but yet again it was not taken up as a weapon of war with much enthusiasm (with one notable exception). The reasons for the lack of missile troops may have much to do with the style of warfare at this time which followed quite a heroic pattern to begin with and then became more and more regimented. As the peasantry were not rich enough to afford the Hoplite panoply they were socially excluded on the battle field and therefore morale and motivation to fight must have been low, missiles were also not considered a "manly" enough weapon. The only exception to this was the island of Rhodes where the art of using the sling was held in high regard, the Rhodians hired themselves out as mercenaries mainly during the later Hoplite and Successor periods and could be found in armies as far apart as Spain and Syria (a good example of this is in the Anabasis, the march of the 10,000 greek mercenaries, XENophon
, who became the the general after the others were executed out of persian treachery... and a damn good one to, but thats another article all together... recorded that a contingent of rhodian slinger acompinied them into persia, and were VERY useful for keeping harrasing persians off of the Greek flacks when the were headed to the black sea
Cavalry: To say that the Greek art of horsemanship was not a priority is an understatement, in the main early period cavalry were simply Hoplites on horseback who would have been happier on foot in the phalanx. Only the Thebans seem to have taken any pride in their riding abilities and even they were few in numbers. Even in the later period when cavalry numbers increased they were still mostly poor and only a few states could call upon decent horsemen. One way to get around this was to have lightly armed javelinmen accompany the cavalry (probably to help them back on after a fall!) who would support them when faced with enemy horsemen. Another was to hire good (i.e. better than their own cavalry - not hard!) mercenaries. Popular mercenaries were the Thessalians who bred good horses and the Tarentine troop-type. These skirmishing cavalry were possibly named after the city of Taras but the name soon denoted a way of fighting not their origins.
Armies of the early Hoplite period - 700 to 450BC: As has been mentioned above the Hoplite was the mainstay of Greek armies at this time however there were differences between the city states that make for interesting variations in collections. It has been estimated that at the time of the Persian invasions in 480BC there were 100,000 Hoplites in mainland Greece, however the numbers that could actually be raised at any one time from any single city varied enormously. Major states could field a maximum of 10,000 men while the smallest might only have 100 available.
Large forces would be made up from a core of Hoplites from the dominant state with their allied and client cities sending contingents. A good example of this is also the largest purely Greek army raised to fight the Persian Invasion at the Battle of Platea in 479BC. The force comprised 40,000 troops almost all hoplites drawn from 23 states with Sparta as the dominant partner followed by Athens.
Athens: The Athenian city state relied on it's naval power for it's ascendancy in mainland Greece but also fielded an army second only to Sparta. A `tribal' system was used whereby each of the 10 `tribes' provided a contingent (called a taxis), these would not be regimented or equal in size and there could be dissent between the tribal commanders (called taxiarchs). The maximum number of Hoplites fielded seems to have been 10,000; in addition skirmishers and cavalry would accompany them but not exceed 15% of the Hoplite total.
) and of coarse, the fact that early Roman warfare, and armour/weapon styles would have the same as that of Greece for a good portion of her early history,now then, lets get this party started... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Between the 7th and 3rd Centuries BC the Greeks gave the known world artistic, philosophical and scientific advances but also developed a form of warfare that would rule the roost until the time of Alexander. This was the Hoplite, a citizen-soldier defending his city and it's trade, settling in the far-flung regions of Asia and Africa and finally becoming the most sought after mercenary in the world.
Before 700BC Greek warfare had been similar to that in the rest of the East, nobles in chariots fighting heroic duels while the lesser followers made up the numbers and fought amongst themselves. The infantry contingents became more solid as time went on until it was they, not the mounted arm, that ruled the battlefields. This formation became known as the phalanx and would be the premier fighting style in the eastern Mediterranean for 400 years. As time went on and Hoplites met different peoples with varied fighting styles they adapted tactics to include an increased skirmishing arm until the heyday of the Hoplite was eclipsed first by the light troops that supported them and finally the pikes of the Makedon
Early and Late Periods: The Hoplite era began around 700BC and continued relatively unchanged for 250 years (when the `early' period is mentioned it refers to this time-span), from the mid-5th Century onwards there were changes in the composition of the armies and innovations in the tactics employed (this is referred to as the `later' period).
The Hoplite's Defences: The basic equipment of the Greek soldier changed little during this period although fashions in detail (e.g. helmet styles) came and went. The most immediately visible piece of kit was the shield known to the Greeks as the aspis (occasionally hoplon, which, from what I gather, actually means "tool"). It was around 1 metre in diameter with a flat rim and convex face. The shield was constructed of wood covered with cured leather; the rim was covered in bronze sheet as, usually, was the face. Behind the face was a bronze loop for the forearm and a cord handgrip. Around the inner rim was a knotted cord used for slinging the shield when not in use.
The bronze helmet, with or without a crest of dyed horsehair, was another ubiquitous feature. This changed shape and style from a type that completely enclosing the wearer's head and face in the early period to the lighter pilos helmet that only covered down to the ears.Cheek pieces could be integral and solid or hinged to allow more comfort. Bronze greaves were worn to protect the lower legs and were designed to "clip-on" utilising the natural spring of bronze sheet to hold them in place. They could be richly decorated and moulded but most Hoplites made do with a plain pair moulded to represent the musculature of the leg. In the early period thigh and upper arm armour of a similar type were sometimes worn but soon fell out of use probably because they restricted movement in combat.
The last piece of defensive equipment was the cuirass, in the early period this was made of a front and back plate moulded from bronze and held in place with side and shoulder straps. These ranged from relatively plain examples to highly worked pieces which reproduced the musculature of the torso in Classical style. As this "bell-cuirass" fell out of fashion the lighter but more intricate spolas came into fashion. This was a wrap-around armour which tied at the right side and had a yoke which was secured on the chest enclosing the body, at the waist was a wide belt section which was cut into pteurges ("feathers") to hang in strips to protect the lower abdomen to mid-thigh. The spolas was made of layers of linen or leather and, in the mid-period, could be reinforced with small bronze or iron scales. The material part was normally off-white but could occasionally be coloured as could the yoke, belt section and pteurges.
As mercenary bands came into their own in the later stages of the Hoplite period they might omit the spolas and just fight with shield, helmet and greaves, this does not seem to have effected their reputation or fighting prowess and shows that the best equipment is no substitute for motivation and high morale. This was in some ways a return to the earlier period when some Hoplites fought naked except for similar defensive equipment.
-It is interesting to note that this panoply has been deduced to have cost the equivalent of a modern-day family car, the individual paid for it not the city-state so this was not for the poor but the professional classes, meaning that, the middle class was now the backbone of the army, and therefore, as they controled the independence of the state, were in the position to demand more civil rights, which would of course lead to democracy
Hoplite Weapons: Throughout the period of Hoplite supremacy his main weapon was the long spear, around 9' long this had butt spike for balance (or a secondary weapon) and was bound with cord at the centre of balance. This is most often depicted as being used over-arm in a stabbing motion(not the modern dipiction of under arm stabbing) but could be thrust into the ground to receive cavalry charges.
During the early period Hoplites are shown carrying and throwing javelins in addition to the long spear. This practice may have died out as the phalanx became the primary formation and required individuals to be much closer together not allowing a run-up to cast a missile.
Side arms in the form of swords and long knives were carried, the latter particularly by Spartans. The sword stayed much less used than the spear but did undergo some development, the hoplite could choose from the cut-and-thrust straight version or a single-edged type called the kopis used in a downward slashing motion.
Hoplite shield blazons: This is mainlly for any unit makers out there, who for some reason might want to add on to the already extensive amount of quality hoplites made by Kryten. If one were to make a trojan war scen, i would suggest using hoplites for the champions(E.G. Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, and so on) and to use the early period descriptions
The early period saw the use of mythical beasts and creatures, birds, fish, dolphins and scenes from mythology. These would be the individual Hoplite's choice and no order would be particularly apparent. In the middle of the period the city-states began to introduce their own devices to identify their troops. Sparta is possibly the best known for it's use of the Greek letter lambda (`L' for Lacedaimon), other states used a design that was the first letter as well (Messenia and Sicyion for example). Thebes used a club, Mantinea a trident, Corinth the winged horse and the Boeotian League an archaic Greek shield (like the "violin" shields of the Persian Immortal Guards in shape). After the Peleponnesian Wars with the rise of the mercenary bands the designs became more geometric and less flamboyant utilising circles, stars and discs. As mentioned above the rim was always polished bronze, the centre of the shield could be bronze or leather which in turn might be painted a plain colour or left natural. A shield might have its centre painted and then a design painted over it for a more dramatic effect or it could be just painted directly onto the bronze. Not all shields would have blazons and these can make a good counterpoint for the more intricate designs of the wealthier Hoplites(e.g. the champions of an army).
Supporting Troops: Frontally an well-ordered phalanx was virtually unstoppable unless considerably outnumbered or faced by other Hoplites with a particularly high level of training and/or morale. However the flanks and rear of such a formation were extremely sensitive to disruption and needed protecting. This role was taken by skirmishers and cavalry, in the early period they were few in number and relatively ineffective retiring to the rear and flanks when the Hoplites clashed.
There were exceptions however, some Greek states came from mountainous areas and their armies contained a larger proportion of skirmishers while those from the Thessalian plains had considerable numbers of cavalry.
Skirmishers: The three types of armament for light troops were javelins, bows and slings, there were occasions when rocks and stones were thrown by hand but this was a somewhat desperate measure. The javelinman was the commonest skirmisher, they started out being raised from the poorest citizens, they would wear no armour and rarely have a shield (in common with all early skirmishers), they carried several light javelins and only occasionally any side-arms. As time went on a better equipped javelinman, the Peltast, developed from copying native Thracians and other hill peoples (the first Greek Peltasts were raised by Greek colonies on the Thracian coast). During the later period these increased in number and then, around 400BC, their equipment and armament became heavier to the extent that they would sometimes be found fighting in the battle-line in direct support of the phalanx.
Archery was never popular or widespread amongst the Greeks (it was viewed as a cowards way of fighting) but bowmen were present in Hoplite armies (the Athenians even hired Skythian bowmen at one point but these were used as an early `internal security' force more than on the field of battle) skirmishing at quite close range while ensuring they did not get into combat. One famous exception to this lack of interest in archery was the island of Crete. (In) Famous for their piratical tendencies the Cretans became some of the most sought after mercenaries in the Classical world because of their skill and training with the bow. There are references to them carrying shields and swords and occasionally engaging in hand-to-hand combat
The sling was the weapon of the peasantry throughout the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the East but yet again it was not taken up as a weapon of war with much enthusiasm (with one notable exception). The reasons for the lack of missile troops may have much to do with the style of warfare at this time which followed quite a heroic pattern to begin with and then became more and more regimented. As the peasantry were not rich enough to afford the Hoplite panoply they were socially excluded on the battle field and therefore morale and motivation to fight must have been low, missiles were also not considered a "manly" enough weapon. The only exception to this was the island of Rhodes where the art of using the sling was held in high regard, the Rhodians hired themselves out as mercenaries mainly during the later Hoplite and Successor periods and could be found in armies as far apart as Spain and Syria (a good example of this is in the Anabasis, the march of the 10,000 greek mercenaries, XENophon
, who became the the general after the others were executed out of persian treachery... and a damn good one to, but thats another article all together... recorded that a contingent of rhodian slinger acompinied them into persia, and were VERY useful for keeping harrasing persians off of the Greek flacks when the were headed to the black seaCavalry: To say that the Greek art of horsemanship was not a priority is an understatement, in the main early period cavalry were simply Hoplites on horseback who would have been happier on foot in the phalanx. Only the Thebans seem to have taken any pride in their riding abilities and even they were few in numbers. Even in the later period when cavalry numbers increased they were still mostly poor and only a few states could call upon decent horsemen. One way to get around this was to have lightly armed javelinmen accompany the cavalry (probably to help them back on after a fall!) who would support them when faced with enemy horsemen. Another was to hire good (i.e. better than their own cavalry - not hard!) mercenaries. Popular mercenaries were the Thessalians who bred good horses and the Tarentine troop-type. These skirmishing cavalry were possibly named after the city of Taras but the name soon denoted a way of fighting not their origins.
Armies of the early Hoplite period - 700 to 450BC: As has been mentioned above the Hoplite was the mainstay of Greek armies at this time however there were differences between the city states that make for interesting variations in collections. It has been estimated that at the time of the Persian invasions in 480BC there were 100,000 Hoplites in mainland Greece, however the numbers that could actually be raised at any one time from any single city varied enormously. Major states could field a maximum of 10,000 men while the smallest might only have 100 available.
Large forces would be made up from a core of Hoplites from the dominant state with their allied and client cities sending contingents. A good example of this is also the largest purely Greek army raised to fight the Persian Invasion at the Battle of Platea in 479BC. The force comprised 40,000 troops almost all hoplites drawn from 23 states with Sparta as the dominant partner followed by Athens.
Athens: The Athenian city state relied on it's naval power for it's ascendancy in mainland Greece but also fielded an army second only to Sparta. A `tribal' system was used whereby each of the 10 `tribes' provided a contingent (called a taxis), these would not be regimented or equal in size and there could be dissent between the tribal commanders (called taxiarchs). The maximum number of Hoplites fielded seems to have been 10,000; in addition skirmishers and cavalry would accompany them but not exceed 15% of the Hoplite total.
to the rear of their army would make a very unusual camp to behold. Skirmishers could make up a quarter of the army and these could be supplemented by massed Libyans who allied with the Greeks. They were still using chariots into the mid-3rd Century BC even though these had fallen out of favour some 400 years before in mainstream Hoplite warfare. 
