SWORDS. Greek Swords. The earliest and fullest information on the subject of the Greek swords is in the poems of Homer. With him the thpos, &op, and Ocia-yasov are synonymous terms : the peixaipa is a large knife suspended near the Opor iii. 271) for the purpose of cutting anything ; the Ppor is called paavberos, a term not very satisfactorily explained, and ap-yvphAov, or studded with silver, an epithet relating probably to the handle (sdrinr), which is said to be of silver : the scabbard, seac4, in later writers called Cites (` Od.,' viii. 404), is covered with ivory.
At a later period coins, vases, and other ancient monuments, exhibit the form of the Greek sword, which was a short cut-and-thrust blade, diminishing gradually from hilt to point.
Varieties in the form of the blade and handle are occasionally to be met with on vases. (Mini-,' Vases Antiques,' pl. 26 and 56.) The *In, or scabbard, sometimes terminates in a knob, the 'Akar probably of Hcrodotns (iii. 64). We have only scanty and incidental notices of the sword in Greek writers after the time of Homer. C. Nepos (` 1phi crates,' c. i.) records that that general introduced a longer sword amoug the Athenian infantry. Xenophon (' De Re Eques.,' xii.) prefers the pixatpa to the tfoos for cavalry, because their position on horseback he considers more favourable for the cutting than thrusting : in this passage adxcupa is used synonymously with Korts, which leads us to suppose it to have been made at that time only for cutting. In later writers the terms Iscfxcripa and Zisbes arc used indiscriminately. (Polyb., iii. 114.) The Greek sword was worn on the left side, suspended by a belt generally from the shoulder, as in the figure of Meleager on the coins of Aitolia, but occasionally by a girdle round the waist. On a 'vase in Millingen (pl. 23) it is slung more forward, so that the hilt is in the middle of the breast. The material of the Greek blade was generally bronze ; in later times, iron.
Roman Swords.—The Roman sword was called "crisis," "gladius," and " macro " (though " mucro " originally meant the point of the sword only; its edge, "steles ;" its handle, " eapulus ;" its scabbard, "vagina "). Polybius gives an accurate description of the Roman sword used in his day, which had the Iberian short straight cut-and thrust blade of finely tempered steel : this had been substituted for the old Roman sword at the time of the war with Hannibal (lib. vi.;
also Dawn.; xiv., where he speaks of the admirable temper of the Celtiberian blades). The form of the sword continued from his time till that of the later emperors, apparently unchanged. Montfaucen (‘ Antiquit6s,' vii) states that the blades of those on the column of Marcus Aurelius and the arch of Severus are more pointed than on the column of Trajan, and that they became shorter in the time of Con stantine the Great and Theodosius. Stewechius (' Comment.' in Vegetium, p. 64, Vesal., 1670) speaks of a larger kind of sword, "spatha," under the later emperors. There seems to be no distinction in size or shape between the swords of the infantry and cavalry on Trajan's column and other similar monuments. The sword used by the gladiators was somewhat curved. The Roman sword was worn on the right side. Montfaucon notices three exceptions to this general practice on the arch of Septimius Scverus; and the spathe already mentioned are said to be worn on the left side. The parazonium appears to have been the insigne or sword of office of a military tribune. (Martial, xiv. 29 ; Rodents, 'Comment,' in loc.; and l'itisc., Lexicon Antiq. Roman.') Other Ancient Swords—For the swords of other nations of antiquity, see Wiltinson's Antient Egyptians ;' for the Assyrian, the works of Layard and Botta ; for the lucirchent, or Persian sword, and that of other Eastern people, Lake, Athens,' ii.; and for the swords of the Gauls, Livy, xxii. 46, and Diodorus, v. 30.
In the British Museum are four ancient bronze swords, three of which have cut-and-thrust blades, varying in length from 10 to 25 inches, and in breadth from 14 to 2 inches. Another, considered to be Etruscan, is hound with gold wire round the handle, and is about 13 inches long. In Moutfaucon Antiq.; vii.) are engravings of three, two of which, as he states, measured a foot and a half (French), and the other 30 inches in length. In the Museo Borbonico, vol. v., pl. xxxix., is an engraving of one having two rings on its scabbard, which is of wood, covered with plates of metal, and studded with brass; a handle of another is finished with an eagle's head, and other varieties are shown in the same work.