www.4hoplites.com


Reenactment guidance and ideas

Written by Hoplites, for Hoplites

Recreating the Ancient World

Combatants in Greece

in the 5th Century B.C.
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What this site is all about

Notes
The idea for this website was born on one cold, August evening when, huddled around a campfire at a reenactment event, the flow of alcohol and slowly diminishing feeling in exposed extremities led to a discussion about the challenges faced by Hoplites on campaign. As is usually the way with such late night discussions, one thing led to another and the conversation then began to reflect on 3 year's eventing with the Hoplite Association.

Quite naturally, to us of course, this came around to exploring the mistakes, errors and, in particular, some of the faux-pa's committed when communicating with the public. How we laughed at the thought of us parading around with kopis's on our heads, the classic error of using the word hoplon to mean shield and, ultimately, the idea that we worshipped at the 'Temple of Deli' ....... I suppose you had to be there?

Little of what else was said remains in memory, other than one, small, discussion around the challenges faced and, to an extent, overcome in the re-creation of the ancient Greeks.

From that, the difficulties encountered, the research undertaken, the realisations born from experience and the fact that re-creating a period bordering on pre-history does demand a monumental leap of faith, gave rise to an idea that motivation was the key and thus this website was conceived.

One thing we cannot do here is to give away the secrets of the Hoplite Association, which have come about after significant investment in time, effort and money. What we can do, however, for both Association members and interested parties alike is to provide a platform for some of the academic underpinning to our hobby and at least some level of guidance towards turning dreams into reality.

"The 4 Hoplites of the Acropolis"

Maintained as a hobby, this site is under constant review but delays might be experienced in bringing changes online. Please be patient, check regularly and refresh pages by pressing 'F5'

LAST UPDATED

10 Feb 2007

THE ASPIS

Information on new shield availability for 2008

Please note - we are receiving multiple hits and are working on managing the memory to keep the costs of running the site down. This has slowed down the addition of much of the planned new material..

Linothorax Guide

TERMS

Kopis: a single edged, usually recurved sabre. See weapons

Hoplon: commonly corrupted in translation and applied solely to the hoplite shield, but essentially meaning 'weapon' as a general term. Hoplites being 'men carrying weapons'.