What did the Greek State's Marines wear during the 2nd Persian war?

by SSJBardock347

I studied the 2nd Persian War in ancient history and have recently seen the new 300 movie, I can pick out the historical inaccuracies except for the attire of the Greeks during naval battles, what did they wear? The bare minimum seems logical as armour is too heavy so was it really just a helmet and an optional shield?

ScipioAsina

Hello! Athenian "marines" (Greek: epibatai) probably would have worn similar gear as the hoplites on land, since they belonged to the same property class (thus linen or bronze armor, a helmet, and a large shield). In fact, on a number of occasions our sources (e.g. Thucydides 1.49.1) explicitly refer to the deck-soldiers as hoplites, and these soldiers could be expected to serve on land if needed. I should point out that the Romans seem to have had an even less defined system for their "marines" (classiarii, "[men] of the fleet"), who were (at least during the Punic Wars) either infantrymen transferred temporarily to ships or oarsmen/sailors given weapons and armor; in this case, their title referred to their role rather than a specific occupation or branch of the military.