Ancient Greek military personal equipment

Ancient Greek weapons and armor were primarily geared towards combat between individuals. Their primary technique was called the phalanx, a formation consisting of massed shield wall, which required heavy frontal armor and medium-ranged weapons such as spears. Soldiers were required to provide their own panoply, which could prove expensive, however the lack of any official peace-keeping force meant that most Greek citizens carried weapons as a matter of course for self-defence. Because individuals provided their own equipment, there was considerable diversity in arms and armour among Grecian troops.

The poorest citizens, unable to afford the purchase or upkeep of military equipment, operated on the battlefield as psiloi or peltasts; fast, mobile skirmishing troops.

Weapons were primarily constructed from iron, wood and bronze.

The primary weapon was used by Greek troops was a two-to-three meter spear with a leaf-shaped blade at one end and a short spike at the other known as the doru. The doru was used one-handed (the other hand supporting the soldier's shield). Mounted cavalry were known to have used a thinner spear or very long lance (xyston) which provided a range advantage over shorter infantry spears.

Under Philip II of Macedon, hoplites were equipped with extremely long spears (up to 21 feet) called sarrisae. Used in conjunction with the phalanx formation, this made an impregnable wall of spears in front of the infantry, the enemy's shorter weaponry could not reach the phalanx because of the sarissae .

As a secondary weapon, hoplites are known to have carried a short sword known as the xiphos which was made from iron or bronze depending on the era. This was used in the event of a broken spear, or if close melee combat was necessary. Hoplites mounted on horseback likely used a heavier, curved sword known as the kopis, meaning "chopper" in the Greek language. Light infantry known as peltasts would carry a number of javelins used to pepper enemy formations, avoiding close combat whenever possible. The job of the peltast was not to engage in formation combat, therefore, many carried nothing more than javelins.

Hand-to-hand, light support troops such as the psiloi were often armed with ranged weapons. Popular ranged weapons were the bow (toxa), javelin (akontia) and sling (sfendonai). While the bow was a relatively uncommon weapon (the wooden stave bow used had a limited range), some troops treated their arrows by thrusting them into rotting corpses, thus creating a crude form of biological weapon. Peltast troops commonly used javelins, and hoplites and cavalry troops were also often equipped with javelins for throwing. The javelins used were light spears around 1.5m in length, with an unbarbed bronze head to facilitate recovery of the weapon; they were usually thrown with the aid of an amentum. Slings used both lead pellets and stones; stones were also commonly thrown by hand.

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