In the 7th Century BC a new era of warfare strategy evolved. Before this new strategy, foot soldiers (known as hoplites) engaged in battle in the form of one mob for each army which on the command of their generals runs at each other and proceeds to hack blindly at the enemy with little to no direction other then to kill the enemy in front of them. This proved to be very messy and the …showed first 75 words of 3205 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3205 total…pay. There were a variety of reasons for this transfer of responsibilities including the state's ability to buy quality armor for all and the benefits of soldiers fighting in armor to which they are accustomed. There is also an aesthetic benefit to having all soldiers, weapons, and banners of the same appearance, not to mention the economic benefit for the city-state when all weapons and armor for the army must be bought within the city-state.