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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 ...
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.
Because of this, warfare was a typical theme in many pieces of ancient Greek art. Many works of art, like the Doryphoros or the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos , used military objects in their composition, and many others, like the Chigi vase , had warfare as their main subject.
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.
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.
Greek wrestling (Ancient Greek: πάλη, romanized: pálē), also known as Ancient Greek wrestling and Pále (πάλη), was the most popular organized sport in Ancient Greece. A point was scored when one player touched the ground with his back, hip or shoulder, or conceding defeat due to a submission-hold or was forced out of the wrestling-area.
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.