Dory (Spear) Handling, a skill at arms that needs to be mastered for a hoplite.

Andrew Harris experimenting with the deadly 'TOXO' 'Greek Bow n Arrow'

The list of members of the Ancient Hoplitikon of Melbourne. All proud members of the Australasian Living History Federation (ALHF) MELOI THS   AUSTRALOASIATIKHS ZONTANHS HSTORIAS (ALHF) GIA NA KRATHSOUME ZONTANH THN KLHRONOMIA MAS.
President : Andrew Harris
Secretary : Athanasios Porporis
Treasurer : Nick Moutzouris
 
Athanasios Porporis "Polemarchos"Founder and Group"Secretary"
AMOMPHARETUS      "Irreproachable Valor" 

CRAIG SITCH of MANNING IMPERIAL, VICTOR of the 'HOPLITODROMOS' (Race in Armour) 2010.   VICTOR of the 'HOPLITODROMOS' at MARATHON GREECE 2011.

Cherilyn Fuhlbohm of Manning Imperial

Nick Moutzouris "ARCHELAUS"

Lakonian Kylix Attributed to the Hunter Painter 550 - 520 BCE

DAVID BARTLETT HOPLITE of CARTHAGE 4th cent BCE (in Sicily)

Matthew Burgess (New Member) 2021

DESI DONATO (New Member 2019)

ANDREW HARRIS Member since 2018

SPARTANTHRACIANETHIO1.jpg - largeHoplitikongrouppics25.JPG - large

 

 

JOHN DOYLE (New Member) 2020

DARCY LAUDER

(New Member 2022)

JOHN DORAN (New Member 2022)

MARGARET BOSIDIS (New Member)  2020 

 

Battle of Plataea 479 BCE  2,500 year's Anniversary 26th-31 July 2022 Boeotia Greece

 

Xenophons "KYNEGETIKOS" (On Hunting) Morning wine ration before the hunt. Basic attire, Petasos, Chlamys, Hoplite canteen and cup. Hunting naked was a common feature in Ancient Greece, only wearing bare essentials and carrying the appropriate weapons. 2012

TROPAION , Monument to the battle of Marathon 490 BCE. Here at this spot, was the turning point of the battle. The Persians broke ranks and were routed by the Athenians and Plataeans, a Greek victory !

Sydney Ancients & Melbourne Hoplitikon 'Members'  at the battle of Marathon 'Tropaion'  2,500 years Anniversary of the battle of Marathon , Greece September 2011

 

Graig and Cherilyn at the 'Tropaion' (trophy) at Marathon Greece 2011.

Marathon Tropaion 2011 ( 2,500 years Anniversary ) Greece.

Battle of Marathon 2,500 year Anniversary 2011 reenactment, Greece.

Ancient Hoplitikon in Battle mode at 'TimeLine Fair' Berwick 2010

    THRACIAN  PELTASTS
Hoplitikongrouppics22.JPG - large
XENOPHON's 'KYNEGETIKOS' (On Hunting)
KUNHGETIKOS
From; KUNHGEW  "I Hunt"
Is a treatise by Xenophon - Philosopher and Military Leader, Hunting Xenophon claims, 
"Are the means by which men become good in war and all things out of which must
come excellence in thought and word and deed".
KYNEGETIKOS2012.jpg - large
Xenophon writes, "For men who are sound in body and mind may always stand on the threshold of success".
KYNEGETIKOS2012_00001.jpg - large

 KYNEGETIKOS2012_08.jpg - large

Xenophon concludes, "For all men who have loved hunting have been good: and not men only, but those women also to whom goddess Artemis has given this blessing, Atalanta, Procris and others like them".

  KYNEGETIKOS2012Hunti1.jpg - large

Horse Motif     Shield Device ( Athenian 'EPILEKTOI' Elite ) of the "Philaidon" Klan  650 B.C.

'Gorgon Shield Devices' Popular Klan Emblem throughout Greece, spanning from early 6th - 5th Century B.C. 

'CENTAUR' Aspis (Shield Device) from IOLCOS (IwlkoV) of Thessaly,  Central Greece and Arcadia Western Peloponnese. ca. 520-460 BCE

CLUB of HERAKLES (THEBAN POLIS STATE EMBLEM) Shield Device c.394 BCE

                                                                The Ancient Hoplitikon of Melbourne "Shield Register"                                                                                 Heraldry of Antiquity - Shield Iconography , had a Personal,  Family and Tribal Klan significance.   Archaeological evidence from ancient pottery, numismatic's  and sculptural reliefs, indicates the prolific nature of    "Heraldric Shield Devices".    The Shield Devices in our register are faithfully reconstructed based on this research, rather than artistic license.
PARABLEMATA - PARA-BLHMATA  (Screen Cover) - Shield Apron.
East Greek (Asia-Minor) Innovation ca.610 BCE.
Made of Leather or other woven textile, Fashionable Iconography of the time and provided 
protection to the lower legs from Sling Bullets, Arrow and Javelin during combat. 
 
COCK SHIELD DEVICE of IDOMENEUS
PARTHENOPAIOS   ParqenopaioV - "Seemingly Virginal" (Parthenopaeus), one of the Seven Protagonist's against Thebes, is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BCE. A Native of Arcadia, described as young & outstandingly good-looking, but at the same time arrogant, ruthless & over-confident. Son of Atalanta, He was killed by Periclymenus by heaving a load of stones on his head at the Electran Gate. Upon his shield he weilded the Flesh Eating Sphinx. Nowhere else, for example, would the figure of the Sphinx be such a threatening insult to the Citizens of Thebes.
POLIS of PLATAEA

ORNITHOMANCY , (Ancient Greek - Oiwnixomai, "Take Omens from the flight and cries of birds".  ORNIS - "BIRD"  & MANTEIA "DIVINATION",  In Ancient Greek Mythology, CORONIS, Daughter of Philegyas King of the Lapiths, was one of Apollo's Lovers & Mother of Asclepius. When Coronis was pregnant, Apollo had appointed a WHITE RAVEN to guard her before leaving. The Raven after learning the affair of Coronis with Ischys, reported it to Apollo. Apollo killed the couple and in anger, turned the Raven Black by scorching it as a punishment for failing it's duty. This is why the Ravens are Black and Coronis (KorwniV) was thus named. 
PLATAEA 
DAIDALA MIKRA
The DAEDALA ( Greek  daidala ) was a festival of Reconciliation that was held every few years in Honour of HERA at Plataea, in Boeotia. Being one of the Major Cults of the city.  In the Lesser DAEDAL (Greek - Daidala Mikra ) the people of Plataea went to an Ancient Oak Grove and exposed pieces of cooked meet to RAVENS. After taking a piece of meat,  it would settle. Out of this tree they would carve an image, and having it dressed as a bride, according to the ritual, is paraded in a cart in an act of Deceit toward  Hera by Zeus . Celebrated in Plataea where Love conquers over infidelity .  This simply,  is to give context to one of the Plataean Shield Device's / Iconography as our reconstruction. 
LAKEDAIMONIAN Shield Devices

'LION' Crouching,  Greek Shield Device of the 'ISAGORIDAE' Klan, with checker'd apron Tribe of Athens 470 B.C.

Dolphin(s) Shield Device of  Hoplite Marines  

#3 Dolphins signify Syracuse 

Shield Device from the Island of Rhodes, "HYBISCUS FLOWER" 4th Century B.C.E.

Solar Star of Apollo, also (Macedonian Royal Emblem) Shield Devices

  The Greeks usually refferred to the Hoplite shield as "Aspis"( Aspida - ASPIDA), rarely as the Hoplon;  Thus controversy rages over the etymology of the word Hoplite itself. The term may be derived from the plural  "Hopla"   (Armament).  Rather than the singular Hoplon.
SPARTAN MORA of ELOS
Pausanias mentions a seaside polis near Sparta called HELOS, whose inhabitant's were enslaved and became Helots. HELOS was founded by Helios, the younger son of Perseus. The Polis was reduced by seige by the Dorians, and their inhabitant's became the 'First Slaves' of the Lacedaemonian State. Helos is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad by Homer, under the command of King Menelaus the Lacedaemonians offered 60 ships for the Achaean  Armada.   The MORA of ELOS, shield iconography had the Bull's Head with Horn's Downwards. These rugged tough Oxen were in existence in Greece up to the early 20th Century and their distant cousins are still found in the Strymon area in Northern Greece. In Cape Tainaro  dominating the area was a Temple of Poseidon Tauraos. Also according to Mythology/Legend, given by Arnovius ZEUS  in the form of a Bull came from the sea, and mated with DEMETRA in the ELOS area and sired Persephone.
SKIRITIS HAWK SHIELD DEVICE ca. 600 - 450 BCE.

SCIRITAE
The SCIRITAE or SKIRITAI (Greek Skiritai Skiritai) 
were a people subject to Sparta. Whose status is comparable to that of the Perioeci, they lived in Skiritis, a mountainous region located in Northern Laconia on the border with Arcadia, between the Oenus and Eurotas Rivers. According to Stephanus of Byzantium and Hesychius of Alexandria, the Skiritae were of Arcadian origin. Their way of life was essentially rural, their territory was inhospitable, but was of strategic importance for Sparta, since it controlled the road to Tegea. Which explains why it rapidly fell in Spartan hands. Their status was similar to that of Perioeci, but Xenophon distinguished between them, writing, "to meet the case of hostile approach at night, he assigned the duty of acting as sentries outside the lines to the Skiritae. In these days the duty is shared by foreigners, if any happen to be present in the camp. 
In war the Skiritae formed an Elite Corps of light infantry, a Lochos (Battalion) of about 600men, which were used as a complement to the Civic Army. According to Thucydides (v.67) They fought on the Extreme-Left Wing in the battle line, the most threatening position for the Hoplite Phalanx. "In this battle, the Left Wing was composed of the Skiritae, who in a Lacedaemonian Army  have always held that post to themselves alone". At night, they were placed as sentinels ahead of the Army (Xenophon, Constitution of the Spartans xii.3) and acted as scouts to open the way for the King, whom they only precede.
(Pausanias, 2.5.1.)
According to legend, the winged horse Pegasus drank at the spring and was captured and tamed by Corinthian Hero Bellerophon.
The winged horse was the symbol of Corinth, each Citizen of this important seaport felt the Polis and himself connected with Pegasus.
Pegasus , PhgasoV in Archaic Greek Mythology, Pegasus is the offspring of the Gorgon Medusa. The Olympian god Poseidon is identified as the father
of Pegasus. Pegasus was caught by the Greek Hero Bellerophon near the Fountain Peirene (Physically located in Corinth), with the help of Athena and Poseidon . Pegasus allowed Bellerophon to ride him in order to defeat the monstrous 'Chimera', which led to many other exploits. 
570 BCE the inhabitants start to use silver numismatics called 'Colts' or 'Foals'.
Corinth was a major participant in the Persian Wars, sending 400 Hoplites to defend Thermopylae and supplying Forty Warships for the Battle of Salamis
480 BCE. In 479 BCE Under the Command of Adeimantos, 5,000 Hoplites with their characteristic Corinthian Helmets,  engaged in the following battle
of Plataea. The Greeks obtained the surrender of the Theban collaborators with the Persians. Pausanias Spartan Commander of the battle of Plataea, took them to Corinth where they were put to death. Herodotus, who disliked the Corinthians, mentions that they were considered the second best fighters after the Athenians.
AIAS the Great,  AiaV  Ajax the Great  Shield iconography (Amphora pictorial's) ca.540-530 BCE.
ANCIENT HALIARTOS - AliartoV
Polis of Ancient Boeotia, and one of the cities of the Boeotian League. It is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad by Homer, who gives it the Epithet poiheiV in consequence of it's well-watered meadows. In the invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480 BCE, it was the only Polis that remained true to the cause of Greece, and was in consequence destroyed by the Persians. It was however, soon rebuilt, and in the the Peloponnesian War appears as one of the chief cities of Boeotia.  It was chiefly memorable in history on account of the battle of Haliartos fought under it's walls between Lysander and the Thebans in which the former was slain, 395 BCE.   In 171 BCE Haliartos was Destroyed a second time.  Having espoused the cause of Perseus of Macedon, it was taken by the Roman Preator Lucretius, who sold the inhabitants as slaves, carried off it's statues, paintings and other works of art and raised it to the ground,
KNOSSOS CRETE ca. 440 -360 BCE
Shield Device of the most famous of all Mythological Creatures the Minotaur, which had the head of a Bull and a body of a man. In the Style of the Archaic Period, with the Minotaur positioned in the familiar kneeling running stance, it does in fact date from the Classical period.  This is usually attributed to the fact that Crete was more isolated than the city-states on the mainland and Therefore developed more slowly. The Legend here is the Minotaur story where in Athens was subject to Knossos and paying tribute . The Legend contains a creature living in a Labyrinth who was half-man & half-bull.  Bulls are frequently featured on pottery and frescoes found at Knossos, where the intricate layout of the palace might suggest a Labyrinth. One of the most common cult-symbols, often seen on palace walls, is the Double-Axe called the LABRYS, which is a Carian word for a type of tool or weapon. 
According to the Ancient Geographer Strabo the Knossians colonized the city of Brundisium in Italy. In 343 BCE, Knossos was allied with Philip II of Macedon. In Hellenistic times Knossos came under Egyptian influence, but despite considerable military efforts during the Chremonidian War (267-261 BCE) , the Ptolemies were not able to unify the warring city-states. In the Third Century BCE Knossos expanded it's power to dominate almost the entire island, but during the Lyttian War in 220 BCE, it was checked by a coalition led by the Polyrrhenians and the Macedonian King Philip V. Twenty year's later the Cretan War (205-200 BCE) the Knossians opposed Philip V aided by Roman & Rhodian aid, liberating Crete from Macedonian influence. In 36 BCE, Knossos became a Roman Colony.
CENTAUR Shield Device
from IOLCOS of Thessaly, Central Greece
and Arcadia Western Peloponnese
ca. 520 - 460 BCE.
Centaurs were born of Ixion and Nephele, the etymology comes the Ancient Greek
"KEN - TAUROS" meaning "Piercing Bull"
In Ancient Greek Mythology they lived in the forests around Mount Pelion
in Thessaly. Others lived in Arcadia or even Epirus.
While Centaurs with Bull Horns were said to live in Cyprus.

KANTHAROS Shield Device affiliated with the God Dionysus

Spartan 'LAMBDA' Shield Device, Lakedaimonian Hoplite of the Peloponnesian War, wearing Exomis and bronze Pilos helmet c.413 - c.371 B.C.

LAKEDAIMONIAN SPARTA     Shield Devices.     1/DOKANA "Kotinos" Olympic Champion.   2/Spartan King "Solar Star of Apollo".       3/Mora HAWK of SKIRITIS. Early 6th Century.

SNAKE Shield Device "Boeotian Spartoi" Archaic/Indigenous Landed peerage of Greece

         

 

 

Macedonian Phalangite, 'HYPASPIST' Royal Body Guard of King Antigonus II Gonatas 276-239

B.C.E.

 

'TRIDENT' of Poseidon Shield Device Polis Emblem of Mantineia mid 5th Century.

TRIPOD,  Shield device with      "Tania" victory ribbon.    Associated with Olympic or Pythian Games

'Spartoi' Greek Shield Device of Boeotia with  leather apron,  the evil eyes are related to the 1st 'Sacred War' of the 'battle of Kirrha' 585 B.C.