The equipment and tactics of the hoplite were adopted by the Greek city-states in the early 7th century BC, and he was still the standard Greek infantryman in Alexander the Great's day. While the original hoplites had been citizen-soldiers, many were by now mercenaries recruited ...The equipment and tactics of the hoplite were adopted by the Greek city-states in the early 7th century BC, and he was still the standard Greek infantryman in Alexander the Great's day. While the original hoplites had been citizen-soldiers, many were by now mercenaries recruited from adventurers and political exiles, particularly from poorer regions like Achaia and Arkadia.
Alexander started his Persian war with 5,000 Greek mercenary infantry (perhaps a mixture of hoplites and the lighter peltasts), and the Persians relied heavily on Greek mercenary hoplites, allegedly fielding up to 30,000. Perhaps unusually among mercenaries, they were mostly loyal to their paymaster, several thousand sticking with King Darius III until his death, despite successive defeats. The distinctive feature of the hoplite was his three-foot wide round Argive shield, of wood with a bronze facing.
It was usually painted with an emblem, which for mercenaries might be individually chosen or possibly allocate