800 – 600 BC. Greek Hoplite Period. Socketed Bronze spearhead comprising a substantial leaf-shaped, lentoid-section blade with a truncated raised midrib, and a long neck. Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greece, where each city state was fiercely independent and could only be sustained through the military power of its male inhabitants. Hoplites primarily fought using the closed phalanx formation to allow best use of their frequently small numbers, and their principal equipment would have included large, circular (‘Argive’) shields and spears like this one. For more information on Greek hoplite warfare, see Donald Kagan and Gregory F. Viggiano (eds., 2013). Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece, Princeton University Press. Good condition. Size: L:397mm / W:35mm ; 400g; Provenance: Property of a London gallery, previously in old British collection formed in the 1970s.