Miltiades's helm
...g that the offering was made at mount Olympus. The home of all the gods, that watches over the people of Athens. It is therefore evident that offering was common occurrence in exchange for their future good will. In this case though the offering would be in return for the gods giving Miltiades some gains. These would include higher social standing and prestige and therefore he had to give something personal to reflect this. To the ordinary Athenian the god were there to be thanked for the good fortunes you enjoyed. Visiting a temple to the god whose favour you wanted and gave them something did this. This varied based on occupation and income bracket. For example a farmer could sacrifice a cow and a soldier would leave some armour. Such was the case with Miltiades. Also the different gods were responsible for different things, a farmer wanting a good harvest would give offering to Athena goddess of fertility. Social and military structure The helmet, which is a part of a hoplite set, shows us that the military hierarchy in the 5th centaury BC were infantrymen (Hoplites). They wore the panoply into battle, which was expensive for most to afford. In the military the hoplites would represent the Athenian citizens who could afford the armour. This would rule out a large section of the populace. Therefore the conclusion one draws from this is that the hierarchy of the Athenian army was the infantry and the “less-well off” would fill the light infantry sections of the army. This elitism is clearly shown through the fact that the general at the battle of marathon is a hoplite. Also another thing shown by the armour is that the owner had high prestige in Athens. The ordinary soldiers would in comparison have little or no armour that would be adequate for their jobs as light infantry and skirmishers. The fact that almost every single Athenian citizen fought in a war shows that not everyone could afford to wear and buy the expensiv...