The battles Greeks fought
By Ron Laks
Greeks in battles
On the battlefield, the Greeks fought face-to-face until one side gave up or ran away. First, the city state would call the people who would fight in the war. Often, the standing army of the city state wouldn’t be enough. Then, when the Greeks were ready to battle, they would take clothes that would protect them and weapons to fight with. Helmets for their heads, swords and spears to attack, shields to protect their body, and greaves made of metal to protect their legs. After that, they would head to war. At battle, most officers fell early because they were first in line. At the end, when one side surrounded, the side that won would hunt and butcher the falling enemies’ soldiers. If one side didn’t surrender, they would just run away.
Athens and Sparta
The life of a Spartan male citizen in ancient Greece was very hard and strict. Males had to do whatever their city state told them. They were properties of the city state. When they were 7 years old, they served in the army until 30 years old! However, not all city states were challenging like that. In Athens, male citizens went to the military camp from age 18 to 20. Sparta and Athens fought often. They fought because they were two powerful city states who wanted to be the most powerful. A famous war between those two city states was called the Peloponnesian war. At that war, Greek was separated to two. Half went with Athens and half went with Sparta. At the middle of the war, Persia joined Sparta. Then, Sparta won Athens. Sometimes, though, Athens and Sparta fought together against other armies. A famous war was the Persian war against Persia. There, Greek won Persia with less warriors.