Hoplite formation in art

They had a very uniform and distinct appearance; specifically they were armed with a spear (dory) in their right hand and a heavy round shield in their left.

The goal of this formation was to create uniformity and a powerful military force in order to maximize the effectiveness as the army as a whole, rather than use people as individual fighters.

[2] The representation of hoplites in art show historians how the Greeks used this formation in battle as well as how the soldiers were dressed and what their armor looked like.

Across all depictions, hoplite soldiers wear the same armor and carry the same weapons in the same position.

Each soldier is armed with a decorative round shield in their left hand and a long spear in their right as well as a helmet.

The Chigi vase is arguably one of the most important representations of the Hoplite Soldier in Greek Art.

The warriors on foot all possess typical characteristics of hoplites with their spear and round shield as well as their helmet.

The krater depicts the scene a four-horse chariot and a Homeric battle around the body of a dead warrior, that might be Patroclus.

The "Dionysos with Satyr and Maenad ababastron" was made by the Haimon painter in 480 BC and it from the late Archaic period.

In addition, this alabastron is an example of the combination of a mythological battle (the Gigantomachy) and aspects of real battles (the hoplite formation) that we see in other examples of Greek art, specifically the Temple of Athena Nike on the Akropolis and the Stoa Poikile on the Classical Agora.