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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]
Modern reconstruction of a Greek xiphos and scabbard. Actaeon holding a xiphos. Painted vase from Metaponto, c. 390–380 BC. The xiphos (Ancient Greek: ξίφος; plural xiphe, Ancient Greek: ξίφη [ksípʰɛː]) [1] is a double-edged, one-handed Iron Age straight shortsword used by the ancient Greeks.
A Greek hoplite with muscle cuirass, spear, shield, Corinthian helmet and sheathed sword. Ancient Greek weapons and armor were primarily geared towards combat between individuals. Their primary technique was called the phalanx , a formation consisting of massed shield wall, which required heavy frontal armor and medium-ranged weapons such as ...
The acinaces, also transliterated as akinakes (Greek ἀκῑνάκης) or akinaka (unattested Old Persian *akīnaka h, Sogdian kynʼk) is a type of dagger or xiphos (short sword) used mainly in the first millennium BCE in the eastern Mediterranean Basin, especially by the Medes, [1] Scythians, Persians and Caspians, [2] then by the Greeks.
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.
In Greek and Roman art it is variously depicted, but it seems that originally it was a khopesh-like sickle-sword from Egypt. [2] Later depictions often show it as a combination of a sword and sickle, and this odd interpretation is explicitly described in the 2nd century Leucippe and Clitophon . [ 3 ]
King Leonidas of Sparta, in response to King Xerxes of Persia's demand that the Greek army lay down their arms before the Battle of Thermopylae. [21] μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως mustḗrion tês písteōs "mystery of faith", from I Timothy 3:9. Latinized as Mysterium Fidei is a Christian theological term.
Greece [52] affected Thracian warfare early on with the xiphos [53] and other swords, Greek type greaves, breastplates, a variety of helmets and other equipment. During the Hellenistic period more Greek armaments were adopted. Seuthes had adopted a Greek tactic for a night march (though night marches and attacks were a favourite Thracian tactic ...