ABSTRACT
The role of the general in the hoplite battle experience of Classical Greece is significant for the evolution of generalship – the transition from warrior chief to the general of Pyrrhus' mode. Scipio Africanus' reported quip that his mother produced a commander (imperator) not a warrior (bellator) illustrates the distinction, as does Iphicrates' remark that he was not a cavalryman, a hoplite, an archer, or a peltast, but one who knew how to command all these. The Nereid Monument of Xanthus in Lydia bears a relief showing a row of charging hoplites, of which the figure in the center is taken to be an officer with his head turned to the right and his raised right arm apparently gesturing. Thus, if a single row of hoplites in this relief is intended to represent a phalanx, all the figures could be officers and the better preserved central figure offers no indication of a strategos.
