The city of Sparta adopted the hoplite phalanx in the middle of the 7th century BC approximately. A large number of statuettes (mass-manufactured in moulds), that represent hoplites and are dedicated by poor Spartans to the famous sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, have been interpreted as a sign of a united hoplite class with common consciousness.

In contrast to other cities, such as Athens, in Sparta due to the existence of helots, who tilled the land that they formerly owned on behalf of the Spartans, the class of the hoplites corresponded to the entirety of the citizens. The case of Spartan citizens was a unique phenomenon in the Greek mainland. They had the possibility, but also the obligation to form a professional army, whenever needed. On the contrary, in Athens, citizens cultivated the land and those who had enough property to afford the hoplite armour, served in the hoplite phalanx.