The Chigi vase is a Protocorinthian olpe, or pitcher, that is the name vase of the Chigi Painter. It was found in an Etruscan tomb at Monte Aguzzo, near Cesena, on Prince Mario Chigi’s estate in 1881. The vase has been variously assigned to the middle and late protocorinthian periods and given a date of ca. 650-640 BC; it is now in the National Etruscan Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome (inv. No.22679).
The Chigi vase itself is a polychromatic work decorated in four friezes of mythological and genre scenes and four bands of ornamentation; amongst these tableaux is the earliest representation of the hoplite phalanx formation – the sole pictorial evidence of its use in the mid- to late-7th century, and terminus post quem of the "hoplite reform" that altered military tactics.
In the highest and largest frieze is the scene that has attracted the most scholarly attention – a battle involving hoplite warfare. However this characterization is not without its problems. For one thing, the hoplites shown here meeting at the moment of othismos (or "push") do not carry short swords, but instead like their Homeric forebears have two spears; one for thrusting and one for throwing. Further, Tyrtaeus (11.11-14 West) does not mention a supporting second rank as it may be represented; it is far from self-evident this is a second rank depicted on the vase or that it supports the first. To render the phalanx tactics unambiguously the painter would have had to have given a bird's-eye view of the action, a perspective unknown in Greek vase painting. Consequently it is not clear if the hoplite formation shown here is the developed form as it was practiced from the 6th century onwards. Lastly flautists and cadenced marching are not attested in the ancient literature, so the flute-player drawn here cannot have served in reality to keep the troops in step: what function he had, if any, is open to speculation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chigi_vase)
The hoplite phalanx of the Archaic and Classical periods in Greece (approx. 750-350 BC) was a formation in which the hoplites would line up in ranks in close order. The hoplites would lock their shields together, and the first few ranks of soldiers would project their spears out over the first rank of shields. The phalanx therefore presented a shield wall and a mass of spear points to the enemy, making frontal assaults much more difficult. It also allowed a higher proportion of the soldiers to be actively engaged in combat at a given time (rather than just those in the front rank). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_formation)
Militarily, a major lesson for the Greeks was the potential of the hoplite phalanx. This style had developed during internecine warfare amongst the Greeks; since each city-state fought in the same way, the advantages and disadvantages of the hoplite phalanx had not been obvious. Marathon was the first time a phalanx faced more lightly-armed troops, and revealed how effective the hoplites could be in battle. The phalanx formation was still vulnerable to cavalry (the cause of much caution by the Greek forces at the Battle of Plataea), but used in the right circumstances, it was now shown to be a potentially devastating weapon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon)
雅典重装步兵 (Hoplite) 的武器: 矛和盾作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2010-9-21 02:56
The "Immortals (不死隊) " , from the Greek Ἀθάνατοι, sometimes "Ten Thousand Immortals (万人隊)" or "Persian Immortals", was the name given by Herodotus to an elite force of soldiers who fought for the Achaemenid Empire. This force performed the dual roles of both Imperial Guard (親衛隊) and standing army during the Persian Empire's expansion and during the Greco-Persian Wars. Its Persian name may have been Anûšiya ('companions'). Probably, Herodotus' informant has confused the name Anûšiya ('companions') with Anauša ('Immortals'). Herodotus describes the 'Immortals' as being heavy infantry led by Hydarnes that were kept constantly at a strength of exactly 10,000 men. He claimed that the unit's name stemmed from the custom that every killed, seriously wounded or sick member was immediately replaced with a new one, maintaining the cohesion of the unit.
Herodotus describes their armament as follows: wicker shield, short spears, swords or large daggers, bow and arrow. Underneath their robes they wore scale armour coats, which, however, proved less effective against the Greek weapons than the Greek linen or bronze cuirasses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortals_(Persian_Empire)
波斯重裝精鋭部隊 用 弓箭 標槍 作戰作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2010-9-21 06:31
When the Athenian line was ready, according to one source, the simple signal to advance was given by Miltiades: "At them". Herodotus implies the Athenians ran the whole distance to the Persian lines, shouting their ululating war cry, "Ελελευ! Ελελευ!" ("Eleleu! Eleleu!"). It is doubtful that the Athenians ran the whole distance; in full armour this would be very difficult. More likely, they marched until they reached the limit of the archers' effectiveness, the "beaten zone", (roughly 200 meters), and then broke into a run towards their enemy. Herodotus suggests that this was the first time a Greek army ran into battle in this way; this was probably because it was the first time that a Greek army had faced an enemy composed primarily of missile troops. All this was evidently much to the surprise of the Persians; "...in their minds they charged the Athenians with madness which must be fatal, seeing that they were few and yet were pressing forwards at a run, having neither cavalry nor archers". Passing through the hail of arrows launched by the Persian army, protected for the most part by their armour, the Greek line finally collided with the enemy army. Holland provides an evocative description: "The enemy directly in their path...realised to their horror that [the Athenians], far from providing the easy pickings for their bowmen, as they had first imagined, were not going to be halted...The impact was devastating. The Athenians had honed their style of fighting in combat with other phalanxes, wooden shields smashing against wooden shields, iron spear tips clattering against breastplates of bronze...in those first terrible seconds of collision, there was nothing but a pulverizing crash of metal into flesh and bone; then the rolling of the Athenian tide over men wearing, at most, quilted jerkins for protection, and armed, perhaps, with nothing more than bows or slings. The hoplites' ash spears, rather than shivering...could instead stab and stab again, and those of the enemy who avoided their fearful jabbing might easily be crushed to death beneath the sheer weight of the advancing men of bronze." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon)作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2010-9-23 04:20
"Helmet of Miltiades". The helmet was given as an offering to the temple of Zeus at Olympia by Miltiades, who engineered the Athenian victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. Inscription on the helmet: ΜΙLTIAΔES. Archaeological Museum of Olympia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miltiades_the_Younger)