This thesis describes the Gradual development of warfare through the pre-Homeric, Archaic and Classical age in the area of modern Greece. In the pre-Homeric age, metal weapons and armor were rare due to the lack of suitable metals and sufficient knowledge to forge them. Because of this, high quality equipment was only accessible to wealthy nobles of this age. Most of the metal was used to craft weapons, while other equipment was usually made through improvisation from more available materials - wood or animal bones. The use of iron weapons began with the arrival of the Dorians. Iron smelting, advanced techniques, and the relatively simultaneous development of trade in the Mediterranean region made arms and armor widely accessible. Well-equipped members of the middle class challenged the position of the nobility as the most powerful warriors and thus defined the further development of polis in the Archaic age – while the nobles of some city states willingly accepted a new, equal position on the battlefield and in the society, others used the newly developed equipment and tactics to defend their monopoly over political power. After their success against Persian armies, numerous poleis began to compete for rule over Greece at the beginning of Classical age. Competition and pressure from stronger opponents forced them to improvise – more than equipment, it was tactics of battle that evolved in that period.
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