Types of Swords: Iron Age

A while back, I wrote a post about swords from ancient times. And, I said I would continue it. So here’s different types of swords from 800 BC all the way to 200 AD.

The Greeks used two main types of swords: the xiphos and kopis. Notice some similarity between kopis and khopesh (the Egyptian sword)? That’s right. The Greeks used the khopesh, and from pottery art, so did the Persians. Sickle swords were pretty popular back then. The kopis was not as radically curved as it’s Egyptian cousin and looked more like a machete. The xiphos was a leaf-bladed double edged short sword, and was very popular in the hoplite infantry units of Sparta and Athens. All in all, though, the Greeks preferred shields and lance over swords. The Greek successors, the Macedonians, used the sarissa, a 3-meter long javelin above other weapons, and in case the sarissa was unusable, they would use xiphoi.

The Middle East and India used curved and straight swords. The asi is a Rigvedic sword from Ancient India. It was similar to the Mycenaean longswords and had a tapering blade. The nistrimsa was a weapon used in the 300s BC in the Maurya Empire in India and looked like a longer kopis. This was probably inspired by the Indo-Greek city-states in what is now eastern Pakistan, Afghanistan, and southern Tajikistan.

The Romans used the gladius, a short sword based on Celtic daggers, and the spatha, a much longer version of the gladius that was predominantly used by cavalry. This eventually evolved into the Viking sword and the knight’s longsword. In the Scottish Highlands, the longsword became even longer and the Scottish called it a claymore. In Germany, it was called the Zweihander, or double-handed sword.

Chinese weapons from this period include the dao and jian. The dao is similar to katanas and sabers, while the jian is double-edged and straight. These were the primary weapons of Zhou and Han dynasty armies.

The important thing to note about all these swords is that they are made of iron! (Which is the reason why this period is called the Iron Age)