Xiphos 940190 224347773 2008-07-08T13:26:39Z Deucalionite 335094 Minor fix. [[Image:Schwerter2.jpg|frame|right|Antique swords, fig.&nbsp;1-3:&nbsp;Xiphos, fig.&nbsp;4:&nbsp;Makhaira.]] The '''xiphos''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: &#958;&#943;&#966;&#959;&#962;) is a double-edged, single-hand [[sword]] used by the [[ancient Greeks]]. It was a secondary battlefield weapon for the Greek armies after the [[spear]] or [[pilum|javelin]]. The blade was around 65 cm long. The xiphos was good for both cutting and stabbing attacks due to its leaf-shaped blade. It was generally used only when the spear was discarded. The straight, double-edged design of the xiphos lends it the same overall martial versatility found in the swords used by [[infantry]] until the [[firearm]] supplanted the sword on the battlefield. Its design lent itself to cutting and thrusting. Because of the nature of mounted combat, [[Xenophon]] recommended using the curved [[makhaira]] for [[cavalry]] in ''On Horsemanship'' 12:11. It seems that the [[Sparta]]ns developed a shorter sword, about 30cm long, but otherwise similar to the common [[hoplite]] xiphos. This shorter version of the xiphos was useful in the close combat of the Greek warfare and was widely used by all Greeks during and after the [[Peloponnesian War]], as are shown by art of that period. However the longer hoplite sword never ceased to exist. One of the earliest Greek straight, double edged swords, it was introduced possibly by the [[Dorians]] around the 1st Millennium BCE. It was used by Greek [[Hoplite]] armies around the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and even the Black Sea. It is also possible it could have made its way into [[Iberian peninsula|Iberia]] and have inspired the famous [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] sword, the [[Gladius]]. Stone's ''Glossary'' has the 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 (so not necessarily as shown in the figure), and ended in a very long point. The Mycenaean form of the word is attested in the dual, as ''{{lang|gmy-Latn|qi-si-pe-e}}'' ({{lang|gmy|𐀥𐀯𐀟𐀁}}; a sword is usually represented iconographically in [[Linear B]], as {{script|Linb|𐃉}}). Its etymology is unknown, apparently a loanword of [[pre-Greek substrate|non-Greek]] origin. A relation to Arabic ''[[saif]]un'' and Egyptian ''sēfet'' has been suggested, although this doesn't explain the presence of a [[labiovelar]] in Mycenaean. One suggestion (Čop [[Historische Sprachforschung|KZ]] 74, p. 231 f) connects Ossetic ''äxsirf'' "sickle", which would point to a virtual Indo-European ''*k<sup>w</sup>sibhro-''. ==References== *Frisk, ''Griechisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch''. *George Cameron Stone, ''A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor''. ==See also== *[[Iron Age sword]] *[[Bronze Age sword]] *[[Kopis]] *[[Xiphoid process]] [[Category:Swords]] [[Category:European swords]] [[Category:Ancient Greek military equipment]] [[cs:Xífos]] [[de:Xiphos]] [[es:Xifos]] [[fr:Xiphos]] [[it:Xiphos]] [[no:Xiphos]] [[pl:Xiphos]] [[fi:Ksifos]]