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A hoplites most important piece of equipment, and what gave the hoplite its name, is the hoplon, the shield (881004). The shield was made of overlapping planks of wood covered in leather, with the face of the shield covered completely in a thin sheet of bronze. This gave it incredible strength while at the same time not making it so heavy that it became unusable. Each shield was round and approximately 36 to 38 in diameter. Worn on the left arm,...

Who doesn't think of a sword (500262) when talking about these brutal warriors? In fact it was so preferred and highly valued that a sword would be named and treated with reverence. Often it was passed down from father to son and then again until broken or buried with great honor with a chieftain. In the cases where the sword did pass to the afterlife with its owner it was also ritually killed. The reason this was done is not entirely clear, but...

As for their sidearm, the Roman soldier was never far from his trusty short sword, the gladius (500360). The gladius was normally worn on a baldric (200368) and slung over the shoulder to hang across the body on the opposite hip. History shows us most were worn on the right hip for a pull draw as opposed to a cross draw as this type of draw was impeded by the scutum. There were several patterns of gladius and it was not unusual for mixed types to...