Editing Hoplite (section)

===Macedonia===
{{further|Ancient Macedonian army}}

[[File:Ancient Macedonian soldiers, from the tomb of Agios Athanasios, Greece.jpg|thumb|right|200px|upright|Paintings of [[Ancient Macedonia]]n [[Ancient Macedonian army|soldiers]], arms, and armaments, from the tomb of [[Agios Athanasios, Thessaloniki]] in Greece, 4th century BC]]

Later in the hoplite era, more sophisticated tactics were developed, in particular by the [[Thebes (Greece)|Theban]] general [[Epaminondas]]. These tactics inspired the future king [[Philip&nbsp;II of Macedon]], who was at the time a hostage in Thebes, to develop a new type of infantry, the [[Macedonian phalanx]]. After the Macedonian conquests of the 4th century BC, the hoplite was slowly abandoned in favour of the [[phalangite]], armed in the Macedonian fashion, in the armies of the southern Greek states. Although clearly a development of the hoplite, the Macedonian phalanx was tactically more versatile, especially used in the combined arms tactics favoured by the [[Ancient Macedonian army|Macedonians]]. These forces defeated the last major hoplite army, at the [[Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)|Battle of Chaeronea]] (338 BC), after which Athens and its allies joined the Macedonian empire.

While [[Alexander the Great|Alexander's]] [[Ancient Macedonian army|army]] mainly fielded ''[[Pezhetairoi]]'' (= Foot Companions) as his main force, his army also included some classic hoplites, either provided by the [[League of Corinth]] or from hired mercenaries. Beside these units, the Macedonians also used the so-called ''[[Hypaspists]]'', an elite force of units possibly originally fighting as hoplites and used to guard the exposed right wing of Alexander's phalanx.