From Wikipedia

Spartan Warriors

The Spartan Army was the military force of Sparta, one of the leading city-states of ancient Greece. The army stood at the centre of the Spartan state, whose citizens' primary obligation was to be good soldiers. Subject to military drill from infancy, the Spartans were one of the most feared military forces in world history. At Sparta's heyday in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, it was commonly accepted that "one Spartan was worth several men of any other state". At the Battle of Thermopylae, they were vastly outnumbered, 7,000 men vs. 200–250,000.
The first reference to the Spartans at war is in the Iliad, where they participate among the other Greek contingents. Like the rest of the Mycenaean armies, it was composed largely of infantry, equipped with short spears, swords, Dyplon and a simple rounded bronze shield. This was an age of heroic warfare with simple tactics, often little more than a general charge and a great deal of killing—it was common for entire armies to be chased down and killed after a rout. The basic tactic of battle was 'free for all'. In the tradition of "heroic" warfare as portrayed by Homer, the bow was looked down on as unmanly, testified by the quote: