Tom Holland

Some of the Plataeans don't even have helmets.

They just have leather caps, which are called dog skins.

Not everybody is sheathed in bronze, but most Athenians do have corselets.

Some of these corselets are of bronze.

Some are made of layers of cloth stuck onto a kind of leather jerkin.

Some of these leather jerkins would have bronze scales sewn into them.

Also, you would put bronze greaves on your shins to protect your legs.

And so there's no uniformity in terms of kit.

And the total weight is kind of estimated between 30, 70 pounds.

I mean, that's quite a lot.

And the most heavily armoured of all, those who can afford the most armour, I mean, they are kind of fearsome automata of bronze.

I mean, they are really, really very heavily clad.

And by dawn, so as the sun is rising to the east over the Aegean, the hoplites are

are ready for battle.

If they've got breastplates, they've put them on.

If they've got greaves, they've strapped them on.

They've got their shields.

They've got their spears in their hands.

They've got their helmets propped up on the back of their heads.

And then, of course, they have to be arrayed for battle.