RARE GREEK HOPLITE XIPHOS DAGGER

800-600 BC, Greek Hoplite Period. Rare iron xiphos dagger with a leaf shaped blade, elegant Quillion, and an intact tubular bone handle with toothed end and incised decoration comprising a series of bands framing a field of concentric chevrons. Swords, spears, daggers 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:325mm; 144g. Provenance: Property of an established London gallery; acquired from a private estate collection formed in the 1990s.