This thesis explores the theme of the motivation of soldiers in Greek lyric poetry while holding it up against the backdrop of epic. The motivation of soldiers expressed in lyric poetry depicts a complex system that demanded cohesion across various spheres in life. This system was designed to create and maintain social, communal, and political cohesion as well as cohesion in the ranks. The lyric poems reveal a mutually beneficial relationship between citizen and polis whereby the citizens were willing to fight and potentially die on behalf of the state, and in return they received prominence and rewards within the community. It is no coincidence that these themes were so common in a genre that was popular at the same time as the polis and citizen army were both developing.