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Stone's Glossary has xiphos being a name used by Homer for a sword. The entry in the book says that the sword had a double-edged blade widest at about two-thirds of its length from the point, and ending in a very long point. [2] The word is attested in Mycenaean Greek Linear B form as 𐀥𐀯𐀟𐀁, qi-si-pe-e.
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 difference in meaning between kopis and makhaira (μάχαιρα, another Greek word, meaning "chopper" or "short sword", "dagger") is not entirely clear in ancient texts, [5] but modern specialists tend to discriminate between single-edged cutting swords, those with a forward curve being classed as kopides, those without as makhairai. [6]
Rhomphaia: Greek single-edged straight or slightly curved broadsword – blade 60–80 cm (24–31 in) – for slashing (primary) and thrusting Spatha : Celtic/Germanic/Roman one-handed double-edged longsword – blade 50–100 cm (20–39 in) – for thrusting and slashing, used by gladiators, cavalry and heavy infantry. 3rd century BCE Gaul ...
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 ...
Makhaira were of various sizes and shapes, being regional, and not exclusively Greek. Greek art shows the Lacedaemonian and Persian armies employing swords with a single cutting edge, but Persian records show that their primary infantry sword was two edged and straight, similar to the Greek xiphos (cf. acinaces).
The first reference to the Spartans at war is in the Iliad, in which they featured among the other Greek contingents. Like the rest of the Mycenaean-era armies, it was depicted as composed mainly of infantry, equipped with short swords, spears, and Dipylon-type shields ("8"-shaped simple round bronze shields). This period was the Golden Age of ...
Cinquedea (broad short sword) Misericorde (weapon) Stiletto (16th century but could be around the 14th) Modern. Bebut (Caucasus and Russia) Dirk (Scotland) Hunting dagger (18th-century Germany) Parrying dagger (17th- to 18th-century rapier fencing) Sgian-dubh (Scotland) Trench knife (WWI) Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife (British Armed Forces ...