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Paintings of Ancient Macedonian soldiers, arms, and armaments, from the tomb of Agios Athanasios, Thessaloniki in Greece, 4th century BC. The primary weapon that was used by Greek troops was a two-to-three meter spear with a leaf-shaped blade at one end and a short spike at the other known as the doru. The spearhead was usually made of bronze ...
Between 1407 and 1410, he documented comprehensive fighting techniques in a treatise entitled Flos Duellatorum covering grappling, dagger, arming sword, longsword, pole-weapons, armoured combat, and mounted combat. [5] The Italian school is continued by Filippo Vadi (1482–1487) and Pietro Monte (1492, Latin with Italian and Spanish terms).
The Ancient Greeks often used single-edged blades in warfare, as attested to by art and literature; however, the double-edged, straight, and more martially versatile xiphos is more widely represented. Greek heavy infantry hoplites favored straight swords, but the downward curve of the kopis made it especially suited to mounted warfare.
Makhaira entered classical Latin as machaera, "a sword". The dimachaerus was a type of Roman gladiator that fought with two swords. In modern Greek, μαχαίρι means "knife". Modern scholars distinguish the makhaira from the kopis (an ancient term of similar meaning) based on whether the blade is forward curved (kopis), or not (makhaira). [3]
Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing , but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword.
The earliest text detailing Indian martial arts is the Agni Purana (c. 8th century), which contains several chapters giving descriptions and instructions on fighting techniques. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] It described how to improve a warrior's individual prowess and kill enemies using various methods in warfare whether they went to war in chariots, horses ...
From the 16th century BC, swords with rounded tips appeared, having a grip which was an extension of the blade. [14] They were 130 cm (4 ft) long and 3 cm (1 in) broad. [15] Another type, the single-edged sword was a solid piece of bronze c. 66 cm (2.17 ft)–74 cm (2.43 ft) long.
Ancient writers say that the sarissa was capable of piercing both shield and armor, which suggests to Sekunda the use of a small but focused spearhead rather than a broad one. [10] Additionally, the Alexander Mosaic seems to show small spearheads, and small spearheads match what later medieval pikemen found to work the best.