Setting the Frame Chronologically

Abstract

This chapter lays out the chronological framework for the history of hoplite warfare. It discusses the impact that the studies of Homeric warfare have had on the orthodoxy. This chapter considers the problems posed by the evidence of iconography and archaeology, especially the dedications of actual armor in the sanctuaries at Olympia and Delphi, and the various philological and historical approaches that scholars have applied to the literary sources. It also notes the potential significance that a certain evolutionary model for the creation of the Homeric epics has when historians use the poems to understand archaic warfare and its relation to the polis. While reaffirming a gradualist position on the hoplite reform, the chapter also underscores the often overlooked common ground among scholars involved in the debate.