Classical Greeks (c. 670–275 BCE)

The Classical Greek world was made up of independent city-states (poleis) such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth, each with its own military traditions. Despite shared language, religion, and cultural values, the Greek poleis were frequently at war with one another. It seems that the only thing that would unite the city states was having an external foe to face together.

Classical Greek warfare was dominated by the hoplite — a citizen-soldier armed with a spear (dory), short sword (xiphos or kopis), and a large round shield (aspis or hoplon). Hoplites fought in tight formations called phalanxes, relying on discipline, cohesion, and mutual defence. Their armour varied widely depending on wealth and region: wealthier hoplites often wore bronze breastplates (either bell-shaped or muscled), a bronze helmet – of various styles – and greaves for leg protection. Others favoured the linothorax — a lighter cuirass made from laminated linen, sometimes reinforced with bronze scales or leather. However, many poorer citizens entered battle with minimal protection, wearing only tunics or even fighting unarmoured, relying on agility and the strength of the phalanx for survival.

Classical Greek 15mm STL Files

The army presented here, somewhat artificially looks at “Earlier” classical greeks. This is to differentiate the earlier helmet types represented in these sculpts. ca. 670 – 500BCE

Where possible I have sculpted models to be self supporting. Where needed, I add supports during my sculpting process rather than afterward. The integration of supports into design allows me to reduce the number of supports needed, and to position them more favourably. My supports need to be removed with clippers or a scalpel. All models requiring supports are also supplied in an unsupported format in case you would prefer to have full control over support placement.

Some infantry models are also supplied in 13.5mm scale strips. Strip mounted models are supplied on strips intended for use on 60mm wide bases. If you wish to print my 15mm sculpts in 13.5mm please scale them by 0.9.

Please see unit descriptions to see the wide variety of helmet and shield options that are included. For the classical Greeks I have tried to give as much flexibility as I could, especially around helmets shields and armour types, as well as the adoption of cloaks. Where models are carrying shields these will typically be separate files for ease of painting. Some greek infantry come with the option to print with spear in hand, or with an open hand (A hand with an aperture of 1mm designed to hold a wire spear).

Map credits:
Basemap and geographic features from Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com). Map built in QGIS.
Historical overlays digitised by the author from historical sources for educational and illustrative use.