Argos, Elis, and Orchomenos also had units of 300 chosen hoplites at various points in their history. Athens had one too, and its history is truly fascinating. The evidence of this elite Athenian unit is complicated by the fact that it too may have been called the hippeis, perhaps in emulation of Sparta.
According to Herodotus (9.21), Athens had an apparently long-established unit of 300 picked men, commanded by Olympiodorus, son of Lampon, fighting in the preliminary engagements before the Battle of Plataea. This unit combined with a unit of archers and relieved the exposed position of the Megarians, who were being attacked by the Persian cavalry. The fighting was long and hard, and eventually the Athenian force was itself reinforced and forced the Persians back (Herodotus 9.23). Diodorus (11.30.4) has a similar account, calling the 300 “picked Athenians” the bodyguard of Aristides. Plutarch ( 14.3-15.1) talks of the zealous Olympiodorus with his 300 picked men, mingled with archers who “attacked on the run”. These). What this may, in fact, suggest is that this unit of 300 Athenian hoplites was also called the . Sparta, and perhaps Elis and Orchomenus too, and even Crete (Strabo 10.4.18), may have had elite hoplite units called , and this raises all sorts of issues for the Athenian unit.
