In The Illiad, soldiers put themselves at great risk to instantly strip the armour from their fallen foes where they lay, and cross lines to carry off chariots and horses. Did the Ancient Greeks really fight like this?

by PeaceFroger229
Iphikrates

They probably did, at least for a while, in the Early Archaic period (in which the epics reached their final form). I wrote about this before, from a slightly different angle, but I think it answers your question:

In Homer's Iliad, there's a lot of fighting over the remains of dead soldiers. Would this have happened in reality to save the body, weapons, armour etc. from falling into the hands of the enemy?