Hoplite panoplia

[FarDarter]

So I was having a debate with a friend over who was more heavily armored; the Persian Wars-era hoplite or segmentata-clad legionnaire. I am aware that exactly what the legionnaire looked like depended a lot on the time period, but that is irrelevant, for my friend raised the point that legionnaires were provided with equipment at the state's expense, whereas most hoplites would provide their own equipment, so there was probably not much standardization through various Hellenic armies through the years. My question:

What would the average hoplite of the Persian Wars era look like? A desirable panoplia would include the Corinthian helmet, a poplar hoplon faced with bronze, the bronze muscle cuirass, and bronze greaves(though I assume iron may be used in place of bronze in places), but bronze is rather expensive. I have heard conflicting reports on the linothorax type of cuirass; whether it was actually a composite of linen, bronze scales, animal glue, etc. is up for debate, but apparently the linothorax armor was relatively commonplace as a cuirass as it was much less expensive when compared to solid bronze. But certainly not all citizens of any polis could afford a full panoplia, so is there any 'average' hoplite look? Might some eschew greaves, or the cuirass, or buy a lesser helmet than the Corinthian? If each hoplite provided their own equipment, I doubt the phalanxes of the Persian Wars would look highly uniform, solid walls of hoplites armored as heavily as medieval knights.

[Fhyn]

Hmm, I would think it might also depend on what Polis the hoplite was coming from also. If coming from Sparta, you might have pretty much a full set. If from a small polis, maybe the nobles would have a full set, but the average farmer, might have an aspis, if lucky a bronze helmet, but even that might be open faced.

Trying to think when bronze thigh armor started going out of style, but for some reason I want to say it was still used in the beginning of the Persian Wars, at least in the Ionic Uprisings.

Granted, I have only really started my studies on this time period, over the past few months, so take any of what I said with a grain of salt. Many others here know way more than I do at this point.

[Macedon]

The question has no real answer as it stands. A segmentata armored legionary would more or less have a standard armament but this would not be the case with a Persian Wars hoplite. This is to say that some would be more heavily armored and some less. All would be armed with what was considered standard for a hoplite, that is a helmet, a hoplon shield (usually), armor of bronze or linen, maybe with scale parts, a spear and a sword or long dagger but many would also have greaves, some would have worn armguards, neckguards, foot protectors, thigh guards, etc. Some would really resemble medieval knights from the front... Their helms would also differ in many ways, almost all being bronze but not all protecting the face. So, without making any comment as to the quality of protection offered by bronze of the time in comparison with the protection offered be iron in later periods, I leave that to those better schooled than me in this area, armorwise, a fully armored hoplite would be heavier armored while a light armored hoplite lighter.

Regarding standardization of armament, well... every hoplite was indeed free to buy and care for his own equipment -as surely did the mercenaries- but this does not mean that this would be much different. In Athens, at least some time later, I am not sure if this was the custom during the Persian War, a hoplite would be presented with his arms by the state upon completion of his training service. The Lacedaemonians had no personal wealth, so they also had more standardization. The Greek states had factories that mass produced arms in a standard way, so most equipment would be quite similar. Among the Macedonians, at least after Alexander, arms were given by the state and the men were responsible for their condition as they kept them at home. When they were called up, they had to bring their own armament with them and there were also regular inspections IIRC by specially tasked officials. State prepared and stored arms are also mentioned among the Carthaginians and even the Jews.