Quote Originally Posted by Titus Marcellus Scato View Post
I think in the EB time period, levy hoplites would be mostly used as garrison troops - used to defend a city and its home territory, but not to go invading other people's lands with. On the offensive, classical hoplites, or more modern hoplite or phalangite units, would be used. So it partly depends on the situation.
Well, realistically, I don't think classical hoplites would have been used on long campaigns either. These men had to provide their own equipment, so they would certainly have been more well-to-do than the levy hoplites, but they were still generally farmers I believe (based on minimal research, so if someone else has a better explanation let me know) and thus, they would really only want to campaign for short periods of time during the summer, and certainly not too far away from home, as they had to be back on their farm for the autumn harvest. Considering the fact that they provided their own military equipment, their preferences in this matter were probably considered fairly seriously, as they had the equipment and training necessary to get what they wanted.