GREEK HOPLITE IRON SWORD ON HANDLE

800 - 600 BC. Greek. A rare iron hoplite sword with a tapering, bevelled blade, raised midrib, a quillion, and an integral handle with two perforations and a
protruding pin for affixing a grip.
Bronze weaponry production flourished in western Asia, the Aegean, and Mainland
Greece from the 2nd millennium BC to about 700 BC, when it was gradually
replaced by iron. Swords, spears, and arrows were important symbols of war in
Greek Bronze Age societies and served as
powerful reminders that authority rested in the hands of those who could earn
it, especially the Hoplites. Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of Ancient
Greece, where each city state was fiercely independent and could only be
sustained through the military power of its male inhabitants. Hoplites
primarily fought using the closed phalanx formation to allow best use of their
frequently small numbers. For more information on Greek hoplite warfare, see
Donald Kagan and Gregory F. Viggiano (eds., 2013). Men of Bronze: Hoplite
Warfare in Ancient Greece, Princeton University Press. Good condition. Size: L:270mm / W:70mm ; 164g