SUPERB ANCIENT BRONZE SWORD WITH HANDLE

1200-800 BC, Greek Archaic Period.This beautiful cast bronze sword has a tapering, bevelled blade with raised midrib and a recessed integral handle that would have been inset with stone, bone or ivory inlay. 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. Superb condition. Size: L:410mm; 190g. Provenance: Private London collection, formed in the 1990s on the UK and European art market.